Tik Tok Live puts you into people's feeds while you're on. So on. Instagram you go on it, pings all your users and a certain percentage comes over and then it declines. For me, it's like 2,000 Come on right away.

and then 5 minutes later from Yapp and I look up in the corner it's 800. It declines cuz my crew gets pinged. they check it out. They're like I don't give a with Gary's doing the route Tik Tok You go on it, pings p and you're that's right.

You start, you look over, there's 600 and then you look an hour later you weren't even doing anything proper and there's 4,000 people there. And here's the big thing. I'm saying to you three and obviously I'm saying it for everyone at home. Attention is the number one asset.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Podcast with Friends! I've got three phenomenal friends in the building most of all. I Want to give a huge shout out to everybody on Twitch that is watching this podcast live right now I will be glancing over and trying to incorporate you into the show. If uh, you're listening at home, on the treadmill or a couple days later whenever we post this, make sure you go to Twitter Twitch.tv/ Garve Subscribe Up! Big shout out to everybody who's about to give uh, some uh uh, subscribes, uh, gift subs and all that and so I'm excited to be here. We're going to go around the horn and say hello first of all, and so why don't all three of you find gentlemen take two? three minutes on not only who you are, but why don't you tell the Vayner Nation that's tuned in and obviously everybody listening at home a little bit about who you are.

So let's let's start with you: Bree hello I'm Kevin spe I'm known on the internet as uh Grill guy um I do no grilling um but yeah, that's what I do uh originally a I was an educator I actually know Brandon from a past work experience I love that um he John Dey High School P fail baby. it's the only way I got through High School pass fail pass fail so I was a I was a a basketball coach and teacher at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn love um he don't graciously donated a scoreboard to our team and um and was a graduation speaker so we got to chop it up few a very East Coast show I'm excited about this jersey Brooklyn Queens Speaking of Queens I was a coach at York College in Queens for a little bit yeah that's near and me that's right down the block. that's Jamaica Jamaica right near me. Yeah yeah and then uh, started teaching or started coaching in New Jersey and moved out to New Jersey Had a son and during paternity leave just started what part of yours? um I'm in Scotch Plains Oh I know super well my dad's first liquor store was in Clark New Jersey Yes Catholic right down the street.

Okay yeah so we're all. we all know the same same spots. This a very Jersey dude show so you better you New York TR State you better really settle the in everyone it's about to. It's about to happen.

So okay so it you know during the paternity leave you're like it. let me make videos Yeah uh kind of actually. I Had a friend who works at a a media company called Doing Things Media and they said hey, we have this idea for a millennial dad grilling show like would you want to do it I said sure I'll give it a shot and I was really bad at it yeah I was really really bad at it I but you know I was unet to leave I said give me you know let me try it I started making skits you know 30 second skits, minute skits with my phone and like a $15 tripod which I still use and slowly but surely over time it I it hit. Yeah there wasn't like a one day that like really yeah it just it took time and and now I do it full-time I'm I'm no longer teaching, no longer coaching I Miss A L What's the handle that everyone could find you on? uh Grill Guy at Grill Guy at Grill guy under on Tik Tok grow guy uh Gr guy that hurts you right? That underscore with you? yeah, messes with me a little bit Yeah So I don't know who I got to pay but eventually bang me for let me know.

Good seg for me. Why don't you tell the uh about this is an OG Legend everyone uh play. pay your respects in the chat than sir. Well I appreciate it.

Good to see again I'm still grinding and you know I that's all you know I still wake up broke, still working? yeah still working. Love the work. If somebody comes to my office again, ask me what when the I'm retire and I'm going to be really pissed cuz you're going to die your desk disrespectful. I'm like I'll retire when I'm are are you going to die at your desk or are you going to retire? Want to get home first before? yeah I'm I I worry about the dying at the desk.

uh, that would be troubl. that's the slang term from do you think you'll work? no I get it. I'm going to work yeah I'm going to the end Yeah I'm going to work I'm going to negotiate my barrial yeah I'm negotiating everything and I'm already working with the man upstairs trying to get that squared away because there's a lot of work to be done. I think the first thing is like Gary First of all you know, thanks for having me and and you I'm not at Steiner anymore which is so crazy and we were just having dinner and I remember you saying brand your brand your name it's it's bigger than any of it.

Don't worry about it like whatever way it goes, don't forget you got your name. You're never going to lose it and it's hard to be. Not at Steiner but I so I love that the Steiner thing still living on but I came up with something better which I remember I didn't I was telling you about and I put it in a play and Collectible Exchange.com is like this Marketplace I realized there was a lot of older people like me that have a shitload of stuff and they know what to do with it. So now we have like 150,000 items on there I don't think I W 35 at Steiner and I bought star stock.

You're a fan of star stock. Yep I got to get in the trading card game. So I'm and what's great about the trading card is like I'm a crazy collector. obviously have a lot of issues but I wasn't like a training card like Guru I'm a collectible deep into it and now like I'm learning from all these kids that are coming at me like Star stock should be.

This star stock should be that. I'm in a position though to make it into that I love it. So I think you can never not listen to your customers and that's kind of where I'm at. I'm loving the collectible business I'm loving that there's so many young kids in this game and I love when I hear from them and I love the diversity of the product I'm able to carry now.

So one more thing is you're not going to believe this. but this weekend I'm opening up my first show with eBay live. Let's go doing a Regular Show three times a week I went to them I Wanted to be like an educator obviously I'm always going to be selling some but I'm going to be an educator I Want to tell people about the ins and out to this business. what to look out for? y What do you get graded? What You don't get graded? What to get authenticated? There's a lot of people that just don't know and they have a lot of stuff.

They're embarrassed so they give me this opportunity putting a lot of money behind it. Good for you. Very grateful for eBay to give me this opportunity. EB I Shout out to eBay Two iconic people coming together Brandon Steiner Steiner Sports was iconic in you know and especially that Yankee run was like so Legend you you'd be like I'm like I got to get the dirt from Yankee you were selling everything just as a great got that as a you know I gave him a pen.

by the way this is like my you got to have balls pen for my book and it has the actual dirt from the last game. Yankee Stadium you can have it, it's all yours. So yes I'll give you another one I I'll give you one So anyway Marano at the last game he's carrying out this dirt, he gave me half of it and I filled that up with that so you got a little Mar special of the closer I'm sending you some I'll what you got first Z will Entertainer um artist now um I'm from Queensbridge New York um you know I'm 22 years old I started this entertainment comedy stuff back during Co um when it was nothing to do I'm just in the house making videos. um had the first video go viral, hit a million views and from then on I'm just doing you addicted right? I was addicted.

It's like cuz I'm in the house I don't got nothing to do I'm in a crib I'm making videos. everybody's loving it. it's getting millions of views. um and then you know I end up getting a 2 million 3 million now I've aass like 12 million follows overall.

um and now you know right now we getting into the music stuff. I got a song called Chaa out. it's going viral they love it on Tik Tok it's crazy You don't like the Dance come on do the I got to teach you to dance too before we get out of here I'm going to had another song called Freaky would blew up. So right now I'm just getting into my music stuff and and and keeping the comedy alive.

and you know I'm getting a lot of comparisons like Will Smith on on the entertainment side and on the rap side they calling me like Eminem and you know I'm just having fun with it I'm just I'm just living in the did you say here? you're a mix between Will Smith and M that's a crazy mixture right? I Get it? I'm telling you. but like when you hear the freestyles and you hear me rapping and then you know as as the podcast goes on you get the see more my personality I'm just I'm A vibe I just be chilling and Hooper I think I hoop too Gary I be dunking on him I'm trying to tell you I Seey as bro Hey I See it we need we need my house to play Man, this guy does it prop. My brother plays that at the full court. We can do that indoors I'd be stunned if you didn't have hops.

You look lanky lank. yeah you look I'm hoping let's go boys. let's go vulnerable from the top. What's the thing that you're most struggling with Real talk? No right now we're all in very different life cycles.

What you know, grills, what what is like, What is like The thing if I said if we were like best friends and like we had dinner tonight and we hadn't caught up in a 100 days. and I started with cuz this look there's a lot of people watching right now and like a lot of them would like to have the things that have happened to the four of us happen and you know they'll only see the it went viral he got it was so easy he just made a couple videos or right or you know like like well they they did it for a long time. that seems too hard. I don't want to take 10 years, 20 years to build.

We grew up in a world that didn't exist Like these guys were able to have quick moments and then they had to build something for us. It was the reverse. We had to build something for a long time and then you got your moment. So the world's moving.

There's a lot going on, like in a real way. I I Feel like this podcast with friends is like people really having a real conversation, especially with like making new acquaintances strangers. So if I said to you like what's the thing that you're most struggling with right now, what is it? Uh, genuinely it's balancing having a second kid. yeah I have uh I mean blessed two healthy kids.

The best out of all the things I've done in my life and I've done some really cool things and had some difficult times without question. being a father is the best thing I've ever experienced I think it's Peak life I Don't think there's anything better than being a father. It's also difficult. It also takes.

um, it takes tolls on other areas of life. and so having this having zero to one, you're ready for it. You're like, oh, we're having a baby. Cool.

That's all you're worried about. Is the one baby, Then that baby is a toddler? Yes. and then that has its own challenges. and then you're trying to bring in a second life.

So it's like little K Strugg Problems: Big kids, big problems. Yeah. and I Spend a lot of time with the Ogs and they've got 40-year-old kids and you never stop being a parent. Yeah, when your 59y old child has a problem and you're 83, it's you up because they're still your child.

Yeah, and so you know and so is it. It's a T. You're also in a tricky spot. Yeah, you have more opportunity than you've ever had professionally.

Mhm You're a young man. youngish. I'm 36. You're a young man.

Thank these kids. You're a young man. Yeah, you've got nothing but opportunity to build in front of you. You, you as a human, have those feelings.

but you've got these other things Brewing that are the most important things in life. How do you make it all go and also feel at the same time? So lucky that I'm able to say that my the thing I'm worried about right now is balancing two kids, you know I Yeah, you're grateful. Yeah. I'm super grateful I mean I'm a cancer survivor so that that gives me perspective.

Yeah, that's do Yeah, it was testicular though, so rip to the left one y um but still got the right one. Um, the right 's the one you need. that's the only one I need It got me the kids. Uh, but yeah.

so definitely feel grateful that that's the biggest thing going on in my life. but it's it's still your thing. Yeah, it's my thing. Everybody's got their thing.

Yeah, you know, like this is why I Always tell people do not envy people that you think have it so great. LeBron and Jay-Z right now are worried about something. Yeah, and sometimes it's something they're worried about that's way more challenging than what you're dealing with. They may have Fame and Fortune but they might have heard someone that they love the most in the world was diagnosed with not something they were able to win like you were something they can't win and it's a WAP and I promise you, they're more upset today than you are because you're worried about maybe not having money to get some stuff, but if you have like literally like people not leaning into Simplicity is is unfortunate.

Yeah, cuz when you lean into Simplicity you're good. Mhm. Yeah so so you're actually in a great spot. You're just trying to find balance right now.

I'm in a great spot. I'm trying to find balance balancing you know, uh, your relationship with your wife. also with like having new kids you know, try not to beat each other's neck too many times. So I'm lucky that I have ites.

You know there's new dynamics that weren't there before. Yeah, it? yes. and it's It's a beautiful thing to be able to experience something new. Yeah.

so I'm grateful for it. Brandon You know what's interesting? It's like my wife has done such a great job with our kids. Like one of my biggest struggles is our kids don't need us of course. Oh man.

like it's unbelievable. Like you know one minute one minute you can't breathe, you can't get them out of your bed. You can't You know you're smothered with them and the next thing you know is like you're begging you. You got to go to these luxurious vacation just to get them for a week to hang out with them.

And it's it's trouble. Some more for my wife than me like I I I Tell my wife you want to help the kids stop helping them. They don't want your help. What kid really wants help from their parents? They want to do it on their own.

And that's exactly how we raised our kids. and that's exactly how they're doing it. and sometimes it's hurtful. You know when you don't hear from your kid now or they're doing so well on their own, Emptiness is tough.

It's tough man. I remember when my younger brother AJ who's years younger than me like went to away to college and I wasn't expecting this cuz I was a young I was I was he was 18 I was 29. this wasn't on my radar I just started realizing my mom was and my mom is the happiest, most optimistic and AJ went to school and I was like my mom was weird and I was like what's going on and I was like oh that's when I learned what empty nest like. she loved being a mom so much it was her Destiny she is the greatest of all time at it.

She was sad as that year yeah like that was what she loved doing for the last 30 years and that that's like Parenthood in a nutshell isn't it? It's like what what I would say to the young ones out there and that is if I was going to throw something out there said listen I know I know parents are paying in the ass but I apologize any best just said where did Gary get that hat I've got crazy hats coming from V friends. This is ambitious Angel hat I Love it. oh that's cool. What material is that? uh where you get that hat? Nice it honestly Brandon it's so hard to get.

Is it you should be wearing it? You should be that? no I really figured it out I'm making so few of them it grab That's not right man. no this is very good. You got said I'm so excited about this Brandon I finally made a cool product cuz I've made product but I finally finally actually did it like actually So anyway like I'm going to I'm going to slowly but surely trickle these like tough I'm so happy right now. that's cool.

Anyway, go ahead. you got flavor. I was going to say to S out there to the young kids is like look parents are paying in the ass but they ain't always going to be around like you know you got to sacrifice and you know something you give your let your kid let your parents help you a little bit. it gives them the joy and you don't have to be so proud sometimes to take their help and advice.

I think the other thing that's like Troublesome for me is I've had a great epic run so really in that little break that I had like you sometimes you don't realize what you've done, what you've had, you're just so busy grinding you ever think you going to have like a hit I was around your agency today I like I wonder if Gary was thinking he was going to have like agency here in Amsterdam London like it's outrageous I Did I I feel the same way but like now it happened though. it's to your point. back to your point brother I did. but I'm still grateful as that it happened As confident as by the way.

I think I'm going to buy the New York Jets forget about this like I'm going to pull it off. they need you I'm very aware. but when it happens to your point brother, even though I truly believe it's sitting here right now I will pinch the get out of myself that day I will cry I will God willing cuz I think it's going to take me some time God willing my parents will be around like but like it's like if not you then who you're allowed to have conviction and confidence and yet still have ridiculous humility and gratitude. That's where people get confused.

You can have these polar opposite energies. Sure I have conviction and confidence and bravado, but that doesn't mean that. I Also, don't I also realize I don't mean me if I disappear tomorrow I'll get a little love on social media for a half a day. People say a little something and then the world has to move on and that and so you can have conviction.

But if you don't match it with humility and I get it brother, you are absolute entrepreneurial. especially East Coast Legend Oh God it just doesn't stop. I was telling I was telling uh guys outside like I wake up in the morning and the bathroom is the last thing I'm thinking of going I wake up in the middle of the night I'm not going to the bathroom I'm trying to write all the that's going on this brain down because there's so many things you can do. and I I try to remind myself and especially now with not being with a big company with all the bosses I'm on a highway Gary with no red lights the only speed limit is the one I put on myself just to give everybody some listen as they listening.

It's crazy Brandon Obviously built this iconic company. He sold it. He's out of multiple but what he's talking about is when you have when you're in a corporation, you're going slow as and then when you let an entrepreneur loose now he's going fast again and like. by the way, it's by the way.

The reason this agency got so big and we have 2,000 people globally. Now it's big, big, but the reason we're winning is I fight to not be a corporation even though we are because we have 2,000 people, we're just a little less than everyone else and it's like sports if you're just a little faster that plays out on that Court Just a little faster John Mor's just a little faster than everybody, right? It's like, not a lot more. Yeah, just that inch. It's like, right.

let's talk basketball. That's a common. It's scary how just a little more than everybody else and it's a completely different game I Always tell people when you're when you're thinking I'm going to outthink you when you're working I'm going to outwork you and when you're sleeping I'll outthink you and outwork you like I Wouldn't want to compete with me CU you're you're You're shooting for second place. But what's nice is that when you don't realize when you're in some of these big companies, sometimes is just a million meetings, a million memos, a million and it does slow you down to drive you crazy.

And now, uh, I've been. you know it's funny at 65 I Like somebody let me out5. So I'm enjoying that freedom. But on the flip side from a problematic standpoint, you know, balancing that, realizing that you can't do all that you can't kiss all the girls so to speak like and they picking my favorite project to work with my favorite people.

So I'm able to prioritize. but that's it's. tough because all these opportunes come at you, but it's exciting and you know something. Um, for anybody who's out there's a little bit older, Do not let anybody dictate when you're dreaming and when you have to stop I Love it.

Yeah, I love it. Z My biggest thing right now. like I would say balance. Like girl said, having My comedy and the music um because of both is excelling for me.

So like it's it's a lot going on on both sides but when you get a song like I just dropped and it's doing so well but the fans still Z we want comedy, we want comedy and I love both. but it's like I want to work on what's going on right now. like I want to work on what's what's going so you you right this minute want to in deeper into the music but you feel the pressure from the audience that you want to deliver for them cuz that's how the you're even sitting here exactly so you're trying to strategize of like like how do I make sure I don't alienate By the way, I went through this heavy the way I popped off back in the day was in 2006 on YouTube I started making wine videos and I did it for five years every day and I was the wine guy right and then I wanted to start talking about being who I actually was which was business and when I first started making new videos that were not wine people were not happy mhm Stay in your Lane Wine boy I'll never forget that quote stay In Your Lane Wine Boy I've got much worse that's what I but yeah this was this was 10 years ago when people were nicer. It's like a good thing and a bad thing cuz it's like why got oh you've made so big of a name they know you for something but then it's like when you try to get out.

Well this goes back to this honestly. yours is a lot more simple than those two. To me, you have to die on your sword in life. The reason I'm always happy is I have tons of that.

don't go well. it's just that I always make decisions that I want to make. Yeah, the only times in my life that I've been really upset is when I listened against my own intuition to something I perceived was going to give me better advice a parent, a mentor someone I looked up to randomly was just in a and by the way I haven't done it a whole lot I have to go way back in my bank because somewhere pretty quickly real quickly in my life I was like this: if I'm going to to lose I'm losing on my so for you and even just the way you said it, it felt so obvious to me you need to go hard on this music kick. MH and if you wake up in a year and your audience is declining, the music has not pump popped off and you realized I might have up I might have should have went harder on Comedy or I should have done both for a minute.

Here's the good news. he's a baby. You're a you're still in the belly 22 never been called a baby yet. If you literally up the next 24 months and you guys are like damn, we really like we we missed our moment.

no you didn't Mhm, you didn't fully capitalize on your moment yet. you can change that the next day, the next day. Yeah and so I think for you if I may. One man's point of view is if you're if that music is pulling at you, just go hard.

Because here's the problem. if you don't in a year and you're kind of in both. but the music didn't go to where it want or you're kind of dreading the comedy and you start resenting the comedy, you're not going to be in a good place cuz you knew what you wanted to do but you didn't All these people living for the algorithm bro yeah, living for the algorithm gra I experien something similar where it's like I know if I do a video that's like my son be like it's going to do really well I don't find that funny right? So I have to balance like doing stuff that I think is funny that sometimes isn't going to perform as well right? But I know if I'm always trying to do what like I know does well I know what's sharable any anytime a dad does like Dad Dad humor it does well. but like that's not always what I want to do so I just try to balance it I have no idea if it works or not I But for me, like I just don't want to look at something.

you're going to win that game. There's so many people right now Dude I had this: I bring this analogy up and it it came through the other night I was I read a lot of DMS which which is always giving me a pulse of the feelings. this dude's like yo I really really really want to talk about science but like I'm a I'm a trainer and the only post that do well is when I take my shirt off and show my abs and like like like this is a dude, not like we we think about it from the female perspective more often and and I'm like bro, you're unhappy post your science video I understand it's not going to get 30,000 likes and it's going to get 600 but who gives a that's what you want and also eventually it will if you it yeah like took the words out of my mouth. That was going to be my segue.

and it's not sustainable when it's not right for you. Yeah, like it's it's a losing game. It's why I see so many people losing. they they milk the thing that got them there for a year or two after they didn't like it anymore and the audience can smell it.

Yeah, if you're not about that life, you're not about the streets. Don't with a lot of rappers because they know that the rapper is no longer living that life. Yeah, right right and some stay there because they're actually in it. m the the The Streets a classic rap term, but it's a macro business term.

The streets don't with people because they can smell it when it becomes no longer authentic. and if you're still doing the that always works for you, there's a million I've sucked for the last year on YouTube I just don't want to do the things that I know will work better right now I'm busy building my company by the way, I'm doing this because I need to get back into Gary ve life. the last year I've been just sitting in this office for 15 hours a day because I'm entrepreneur first personalities cuz you've been kind of quiet. Yeah, in my view, you like 100% I feel like you've been kind of quiet I've been quiet, building a foundation for the next chapter and I'm like incredibly happy about that.

Me too man. I'm in the same boat I don't I don't need all if I want credit I go to the bank I I don't need the attention I love it I'm flying right underneath the radar doing my thing and I don't really give a what anybody else thinks about it I'm already aware that there'll be 2031 I'll be hot again 2032 I'll be quiet like I'm I'm not worried about it I'm worried about doing good things. There's going to be Es and flows. Listen: I have a 15-year track record I promise you I will be one of the people that pops off on whatever the next Tik Tok is it's who I am and I'll be making videos and because so many people didn't listen to me on Tik Tok last time this next time everyone's going to really go I Remember whatever you decide to do people going to buy I wouldn't be in social media.

the level I'm at without you I remember I just I was completely lost and and somebody office like you got to going I went to see some speech I was like doing the I was doing the opening you one of the Keynotes and I was like who the is this guy like I'm like I guess I better start listening like this shit's making sense and then I got really into my Social cuz you know again like all my friends were like we're not doing Instagram we're not doing Facebook we're not doing this I'm like no I'm doing it back to my Pokemon me SES So this is be friends my Pokemon meets uh Sesame Street friend I want you to open the pack and look at all four cards and tell me which character most resonates for you and then we'll go around the horn this called isn't this a rip ripping it I did this like 3 weeks ago for the first time ever in my life. Bet here you go here we go resonates the most. Yep he are nice I'm going to go with I got mine all right G All right I'll go with selfless sloth keeping with the parent uh Vibe Okay so I just traveled with to a toddler and a baby. It's great.

but I just I have to tell you. breaking down a stroller with people behind you in a in like a security line and nobody has patience that you're a parent. no one cares, they just need to go where they're going is one of the most stressful things we got through. We got through it but I almost bit someone head off okay.

um I'm going with selfless sloth. um cuz you're leaning into that in your I'm leaning into that I just my mind right now kid right? Yeah for sure. I think as a parent your life immediately and it's again the best thing ever becomes about other people. I think that's a really happy way to live.

Also I think about John Wooden where it's like a life that's not lived. You know in service to others isn't a uh a life worth living I don't know if that's a quote I just made that up. You can write that down if you want cuz I thought that was pretty good kind of notes. Did any did anybody get? Did anybody get a foil or did everybody get just yellow cards? I got yellow yell Yow no foil cards right? Um, so I'm going to go with that.

Yeah and I'm I'm with Sloth I dig sloth so I'll stick with that. Brandon I don't know why, but I'm liking this. Brilliant Barracuda Oh Barb the Barb the bar I like it. the fish.

just happy, ready to roll just moving right along. Do you find yourself brilliant I find myself at this point now looking back going. you know brand because I always thought I was not that smart having you know really struggle to read, struggle, half illiterate, the whole works and now I'm like you know BR some pretty smart you did good for I give myself a little more I got I got to interrupt this program I'm really happy I really like the relationship you have with yourself. you're I we point out a lot I'm really happy that I feel like you're really getting into a nice place with yourself.

Yeah, I mean it's tough when you're when you're fighting the fight and grinding trying to get numbers. You don't always get your best self out and that's what you got to avoid because it's really all about the relationships and about loving what you do and making sure you love the people at home. So I'm very grateful my my wife keeps me straight which is you know you know you know my wife is hung in with a lot of my So. I'm very grateful and thank you for saying that I appreciate that I feel it you're a Vibe you a Vibe man we call it I'm young we you you a Vibe you be chilling and you happy? yeah thank you.

Not a lot of that, not a lot of that V chaa what you got I got curious crane okay um that's me I'm always I'm always I always want to learn something I always want to learn something new I feel like cuz all my life growing up I always thought I knew everything. That was one thing my mother always said you think you know it all cuz you had conviction. Probably so right cuz that's I want to break this down right cuz I think it's a strength but to your point being a knowt all and being if you don't if you if you have conviction cuz you knew yourself you knew you had it without humility right? So the reason they're called be friends is some of them work together. So here is humble hummingbird right? So humble hummingbird with conviction Cockroach.

That's the game. You have conviction. but if somebody says some you have that the humility be like oh I thought I knew but I did it right. Conviction is beautiful.

That's happened lot. It happened a lot but yeah definitely c as can I'm always learn I always want to know something new now. um cuz I feel like I don't know it all. Um and when I feel like I don't Well when I feel like I do know it all.

something always goes wrong for me. Um and I feel like you know you got to go through that. Sometimes you got to go through humility but you're staying curious. I'm I'm pretty I've been doing pretty good doing pretty good.

Were you a good student in high school? No I was bad I was a bad kid I was a Class Clown was anybody here a good student cuz I wasn't a and now my teachers are calling me oh my God my kids love you. They watch this from the top but I was the worst. Pull it down from the top the the sign the report. grab it.

take that down I Love that take got a bunch of passes. look at this put in the middle you want to see some look at this girls. Oh great Oh my goodness look at that. Break it down.

tell them give them some. give them some highlights this 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade I Canot wait cuz we prob got the same Gr. Give them some highlights girls you got a you got a uh C in Ceramics which I'll give you how you camic that right here Al one d uh IPS I'm not sure what that is irritable p B Center maybe you got a C in that uh Speech you got a D hold on. how's that in speech giving speeches in class I got a dund most well-compensated public speakers in the world currently and I got a D in speech.

Keep going. uh let's give you some some highlights you got. uh give them German one freshman year yeah German you got a F you got a f in German that wasth grade. Now on the bottom they this is nth grade German this is 10th grade German tell them what I got in German one sophomore year F again okay so just so everybody knows in Jersey in Jersey bro you have to pass.

You have to pass Spanish language you have to pass language two years in New Jersey to graduate high school same I come out the gate freshman year I take German cuz I was born in Russia and thought they would be similar like an idiot ass I run it back on some yo that I'm coming back I'm getting a D in this I run it back F So then junior year I have to go take Spanish one with eighth graders as a junior I get Junior and Spanish one you got a D so you passed you passed I got a D for one reason big shout out Senora Kennedy The only teacher in my life that saw me called my mom and said I'm just going to pass your son he doesn't even know what Ola means what ola mean now hello I bet what I get what I get in Spanish 2 my senior year Spanish 2 senior year he moved it up to a d which is d d two D's D it's the same thing with me with French My mother had to come up and beg to teach you to pass pre. I couldn't I couldn't learn French Check this class rank. What is my class rank class rank In four years out of 254 students you are 243rd. that's cold I wonder how many of those that's I wonder yeah right I wonder how many of how many the 242 what are they doing? what they doing exactly yo ninth grade.

me if I was watching this where' you go high school and I seen that I'd be like oh yeah I it's hope I got hope. Well this is why this by the way I appreciate you saying that. That's literally what I'm you know who I'm doing it for actually the parents. The kids don't get caught up in this.

The kids know the reason we just did that was for the parents that are watching and the ones that are listening at home I Am remarkably happy. my professional success my mom built me I am gloriously happy as a human being I'm very blessed mhm I'm clearly professionally successful as well, which is secondary, but still matters. And this was this thought that there's any correlation. and by the way, then when people are on the other side Gary that's okay, but you're an enigma.

No, no, I'm not an enigma I'm aware that not everybody reaches my level of happiness and success. but I know unlimited straight A Valedictorians that can't the career students that they can't pull it off in the real world I Know tons of people. All four of us are bad at school. all four of us are chopping up right now like like school is fine and it works.

and by the way, it matters for many people and people learn different ways. I Just don't think we realize that half the people half don't learn the way this whole system is built. That's half the people. I would have uh, conversations in like Parent Teacher Conference and I'd be like your your kid is annoying in my class but he's also really funny and really personable.

So I'm I Have to tell you yes he's annoying and it's disrupting the class but I said it nicer than that but like also remind him like that could be the strength that makes him successful in whatever he does. after this. Doubt him him being personal and coming to my class and smiling puts a smile on my face and while he's at my neck you know I'm at his neck you know? But hey the school you coached at My mother was smart enough to realize she put me in a Pville high school. Yeah! so I got caught up in the learning not worrying about the grades M and and end going end up going to Syracuse which is my friend still like going you're going up the what's going on up there I'm like I'm going up theuse never going back which is my mother said look we're so poor this what out ra have no grades, no money, 760 on my boards combined I almost got a zero on the English I go home I'm crying like Mom like the guidance Council tells me I shouldn't go to college I should go to a trade school I can't use the language it was so foul at my mother went off.

she was going to go up and beat the out of the guidance C mom you can't go up there she say I want you to go get that book I want you to find the most expensive School in New York state that's what's going to give us the most Aid I so how we going to afford it? We got no money. Nobody's going to have the balls that has your grades. You look you've been working for 10 years. You got to go up and make a sale to Syracuse Made a sale that's amazing.

Crazy. That's mother though. Yeah moms. I Always say moms are the most important people in the world and they have the biggest impact You: It's actually very common sensical you come out of them.

Facts: I Love what people like try to argue like let me just make it very. Let me end this discussion immediately. You we once inside of her. you know what insane that is like.

We don't think about it cuz it's just so like I'm going to say it nice and slow. Of course they are. Yeah, you were in there. Yeah you part of the body.

This is like the most basic I Don't understand how people understand it. This is how you started. Let me tell you where you all started in there from the womb in your mama. Of course they're the most important.

It's so funny when people like like I'm like the music, the influence you think culture is more important than the place. You Came From You Came The out of are you talking about? It's very basic and true right? Basic is good. This is why I won. This was all complicated by the way.

Can you just tell everybody the only A's I got in all four of my I Can you have an A on uh Fiz class A freshman year? Second year again? uh I'm not sure what Northwest world is but you got to be in it is that history, history, history was the one thing I listen to Did you have a cool teacher that told fun stories? or yeah, we had good teachers everywhere and Bad Teachers it was just that I never knew why I was good in History until I got older I use history to tell me the future. Smart Yeah everything old is new and so it's I didn't realize it was my obsession with pattern recognition and human behavior. like why did there was there a World War why did we go to Vietn the why so A in Jim freshman sophomore, junior year my only a was J year fette again and then you got two, you got health and fed. Yeah you was a gym Legend lie he was I was you know what I was You know what? we called me a gym class hero I would go to gym class like it was game seven of the NBA Finals people were like warming up I'm like I'm trying to kill people like I it was the most important thing for me in the world to Su like I don't know how to not compete Yeah like they're like all right gym class we're going to play I'm like I'm trying to kill you Yeah and that's when you could play fun games like dodgeball I feel like you can't even play that now cuz like people get, you know you can't hurt someone you don't play dodgeball.

Yeah I know hit me in my head. We play dodgeball with the rubber balls that like bounce off you not the like fo not the foone ones. Yeah yeah we did the phone ones. What has been the thing this year where where we by the way 8% of 2024 is over jesz just to get the people that need a little motivation.

It really with me Yeah right didn't that hit you? It's up when you say it that way right? Damn I a lie right? 8% is over already February it's 8% January was the longest year ever 8% but on that note, oh my. God 2024 is here now. What has been the thing you've seen in the last month that's been interesting: A person, a trend, an app, a brand, anything in the first month of the year. And by the way, if you want to go back a couple months to the end of last year, in the last 100 days or so, any what's caught your attention, give it some thought.

Anything that's caught your attention. A person, a trend, a movement, anything. what has caught your attention in in the game called pop Culture I already know one who's a Creator I'll go with the Creator since that's I guess that's what I am there's this girl Veronica is cool. Big shout out is just the funniest person I I I got on her early like she had probably 60,000 followers on.

Tik Tok she has been blowing up the past like two or three months. I'd say it is just one of the funniest, most creative and weird and hilarious comedic skit. Uh people I've seen. Just like you know when you watch something and it's so funny to you that you can't even laugh cuz your mouth is open, you're like what did I just watch.

That's the kind of funny she is so that's awesome. Yeah I've been I'm glad I'm glad you gave her some flowers. she's crushing Brandon You know what's interesting to me is I think people dying to get out I just you know you go to any event, any concert. um you know I've done q&as I haven't done it in a while because I want to bringing experientials back because that's my customers asking mhm I I don't people going to come out I'm like so I mean just did like a quick Aaron Boon Q&A the manager of the Yankees like sold out in like 15 minutes people want to get out, they want to get back to meeting people getting around people which is very promising and um I think that trend is going to be strong I mean you go to most concerts games packed so people want to get out and if you're out there you have the ability to create situations for people to get out.

It's good and you how you people go back to work. It's such a that's another issue. I've been in the office every day with my staff but there's the hybrid thing I'm a fan of it. You know maybe you're going to work 3 four days at least.

but I think you're doing a disservice to yourself I I Realize some people can work great from home, but I think getting in the office is healthy and and you shouldn't avoid it. Yeah, being in your home by yourself 247 is just like it's got some things. I I Agree with you. the real life stuff is very obvious to me as well.

the real life, experiential, real life events people are it's happening. The most important for the most thing I've seen is is is kind of wild to me is Snapchat okay and I don't think yall know Snapchat now is different from than the when it was like now you know people got these gold stars and they're posting their life all day long like you get paid from Snapchat Yeah the vlogging but like if I'm I'm seeing Dwayne The Rock Johnson on Snpp and I'm I'm able to see all the behind the scene in his life and then you know I'm having this talk with the Snapchat reps and stuff and they're like you get a whole different fan base on a Snapchat side 100% I Didn't know that I'm I'm a big Tik Tok Instagram guy so where you with YouTube shorts I am I'm I'm my mans always tell me you got to post on YouTube shorts I didn't know how big of a thing that was like I'm getting into it you you need to do everything. That's what I'm trying to get into. This is the point.

What the book before we went live When you talk about jab jab right hook The book I wrote that was like here are the platforms that matter. Here's the content that's working so I have don't overthink it I have a new book coming out called Day Trading Attention and I mean someone like you I mean you. By the way, you know where your would go crazy where Facebook yep I know you're the fourth person I didn't told me that my goes crazy on Facebook I'm like some old Geer of course your goes crazy. you're heartrob to those 80-year-old women on there.

oh my God like this young boy is amazing. his I I was checking out all your Instagram people going crazy but that was fun Yeah bro. the number one thing you need to do out of this podcast is go home and realize okay I've been bullshitting mhm I need to do YouTube short proper I'm I'm real proud of you cuz Snap is the one that everybody misses I've been killing it. Snap is real snap YouTube Shorts is incredibly YouTube Shorts is Tik Tok but but you won't get as much.

reach up front but long term because people search and then it leads to your main channel. That Is Like Oxygen I Got to go myself and Facebook Facebook What? First of all, couple things that people don't realize the amount of 20 to 30 year olds that are on Facebook Still, they're not going 18 hours a day like you're they're on Tik Tok but they're going. but nobody contemporary is making for it so they're just. it's the same as Snap.

All this is is day trading attention. Where's there more attention than people that are good making content. There's the arbitr. The reason I went crazy about Tik Tok 5 years ago was I was on it when it was musically and I was just waiting and waiting and then there was a Tipping Point two years before Covid where I was like oh it's there and so I got loud cuz I was winning but I wanted other people to win and so that's what's always going on.

I mean you've that is imperative and then and then finally live streaming. Twitch Yeah Twitch twitch and even better than twitch actually cuz twitch is hard like I only have 500 people watching right now. you have to build up over time. I've got to earn it.

It's going to be a grind Tik Tock Live Tik Tock Live puts you into people's feeds while you're on. So on Instagram you go on it, pings all your users and a certain percentage comes over and then it declines. So you know depending on your audience side. For me, it's like 2,000 Come on right away and then 5 minutes later from Yapp and I look up in the corner it's 800.

It declines cuz my crew gets pinged. they check it out. they're like I don't give a with Gary's doing the route Tik Tok you go on it, pings and you're that's right. And so you start, you look over, there's 600 and then you look.

an hour later you weren't even doing anything proper and there's 4,000 people there cuz they keep so. And here's the big thing. I'm saying you3 and obviously I'm saying it for everyone at home home who's watching live now and who's watching listening on the podcast in the next weeks or a year from now. The key is to day trade attention.

When something's there, you got to squeeze it cuz it's not always there. All those didn't jump to Tik Tok when I was saying it cuz they had a nice little gig on Instagram and they were nice and cozy getting their thousand likes there and they felt good about their self-esteem because on Tik Tok they had no followers. The problem was once the attention moved, all winning on Instagram now is hard Mhm supply and demand the end Heard yes you right now in this hot moment. Are you kidding me? YouTube Shorts Facebook like chat, chat says something new Instagram Reals Yeah reals are great but it's listen.

this is what I do for a living. I'm not even going by my content. This company spends billions of dollars in advertising and makes millions of pieces of ads a year. like I can see the whole for it's not I'm in it and I'm that guy I'm proud of how good I am at it.

but I have much more data than everybody. Yeah like this is like Instagram's great. It's harder mhm if you do the same effort on Instagram that you would do on Facebook snap YouTube shorts or Tik Tok you will get more on all four of those than Instagram Instagram is the established Social Network right now. Yeah, not like unbelievable amounts of content put on on Instagram with with a heavy percentage every minute that somebody spends on.

Tik Tok today was an Instagram minute five five years ago. Fair G Do you think that's why like it seems like Instagram is more valuable if you have a large you can have. if if you have a like I'll put it this way I know people who are have million a million followers on Tik Tok and aren't really monetized. If you have a million followers on Instagram you're you, you're You're caked different B when you say monetize ads from the platform I Just mean they're not getting a lot of brand deals.

Yeah, they're not getting and so like how that's because that's because the decision maker in corporations yeah are behind the times. Yeah, so not a million followers isn't as valuable to Brands as 500,000 Instagram Follow for another 24 months and then it will flip. Yeah, the problem is go get a million followers on Instagram Yeah no way. it's hard.

It's very hard. It's very hard TK to you get one in a month I did it in a month I'm at 500k 550 I Think he could decide he wants to and if he did and then took his then you're trading your own attention. If he wanted to get 2 million, he could, Yeah, he would just decide for next weeks to go ham on Tik Tok and push everyone to Instagram Maybe do a contest Everybody Follow me there I'm going to pick three of you and have dinner tonight in the city. Guess what? That 550 would be 7:30 tonight M But he might not want to because followers aren't the same anymore.

The social media I grew up with was email marketing. Yeah, you would get a million followers and then 35% of the certain percentage of them would see it. Now there's people. I Got 15 million followers on Tik Tok There's people on their first post getting more views on that video than me cu the content is the variable not how many followers you have.

All of us stopped following people because the algorithm sends it to us so they're like oh I like this car B stuff but like they're like I'll see it again. You don't think the way we did six years ago you follow. this is a real game. It's about how many likes you have on your on your Tik to page changes.

Watch shares right now on Instagram it shares. This is what I like this is what I spent all like shares is the call to action there. so it just and by the way and in three wants Instagram might want something else to be the thing and Tik Tok this so there This is real. Yeah, all right going back around the other way as a kid who let's give some flowers, who was your idol as a kid or who was if you can think of one person that you just thought was the greatest I'll go first.

Don Madingley Don Madingley from the New York Yankees first baseman. the Yankees sucked in my era the 80s the Yankees were bad Donnie baseball Donnie baseball going to be with them on Sunday I Love him. Please send them my love. You should be dialing You should I dial you up when I'm with them.

Are you supposed to do a card? I don't think you did a card. Oh you're right. Thank you thank you brother. Yeah of course keep your round.

Come come back. protective Panther I'll tell you why I've had a great first month of the year. My sister and I are communicating via text and calls at FaceTime so much in the first month compared to like even last seven years follow. We always chop it up and we're very very close.

but I feel like we're like it's really nice. Like I would say we're very close. but I think like this month has been remarkable like we're just locked in. you know when you know how it is right with e relationships.

Um so I'm feeling great about it. but it was funny when I looked at the cards it tapped into a feeling I was so protective of my sister growing up cuz I was an 80s kid and you went outside. yeah and I was going outside when I was eight she was five and we were outside and Mom don't get mad but my mom didn't know where the we were. it was the 80s nobody knew the parents are all freaked out on this.

When I was 9 years old my mom had no clue where I was and I was outside. yeah somewhere. Also was outside was outside out bro and by the way outside when I was n in 1984 meant we were on the railroad tracks on some standby me some dangerous we were hitting. We used to have a game called we would have a game called sticks where any one of us this 10 kids this our crew we'd be like sticks.

You know what it meant. you need to pick up a stick and hit each other. This is what happens when there's no phones there. just fine to get running across the street.

cars whizzing by on some like like we were like little kid Frogger like it was like it was. So anyway because of that though, your instincts I was protecting my sister constantly I thought I was grown at 11 and she was eight I got to take care of her and so protective Panther hit me in this pack of like I loved being protective I learned how to be a leader because of my sister I was built for who I ended up becoming cuz I got the training in the trenches for my sister and now you reconnected I want I want to pain a very clear pict Con We I just feel like for the first time in a long time we have a great connection I have an amazing relationship with my sister consistently. it feels like it leveled up for some reason and it's so fun for me. like it feels so warm and homey and amazing and delicious and the best I' like feel like 5 years ago or something or maybe 3 years ago you were like follow if I ever gave you a value, follow her and I shot her.

follow so I I see all her real estate if you want to buy a house in Jersey hit up all right your turn mine Jim Carrey Okay I Love Jim Carrey as a kid I still do to this day I just feel like he was so himself. that's one of the people I idolize like when it comes to telling my fans and telling people who know me I like being myself I like by I apologize brother Kade 9671 says I don't with Gen X I just want to talk about this for a half a second. If I May got you. The world is very bad at something it's called.

We have found more and more ways to not like each other. Facts agree, right? We religion is well documented. It's been a problem for 10,000 years. Race, well documented gender unfortunately.

boys versus girls it es and flows, but not well documented. We have done such a good job and that's me saying we've done a bad job. We have allowed 8 billion humans on Earth to continuously find things on gender, race, income level, country I'm American I Italy Hate SP country and the fact that we have now crossed over into another one which is called generational hate. The fact that Boomers hate J, Z, and Gen Z hates Gen X and and the fact that a human would type I don't with Gen X by the way, I'm in Gen X we don't even get talked about I'm just pumped to even mention Gen X it's Millennials Boomers Gen Z I don't even know if people know Gen X exist I didn't even know what Gen X was honest? Yeah, yeah, The fact that we're in this place where we are continuously looking to find another thing to hate each other about drives me crazy ridic.

Yeah, that's corny. It's stupid. The whole thing sucks. Anyway, go ahead.

yeah, no. sorry. Jim Carrey Um, he just saw himself and I used to try to still to this day I try to find ways to look up J car interviews because I just want to see I just want to see him talk I want to see the things like how did he grow up, how was his relationship with his family like he's just from Ace Ventor. My favorite movie is the MK from the Grinch like I just love Jim Carrey and it was always awkward to my mom.

she was like Jim Carrey like you love Jim Carrey like that and even now I got on interviews and they say who's someone you love I love Jim car Jim the man well abah Lincoln I was I was I was I was really lost you I have a dad and all that stuff and I go to this summer camp to work and I was a dishwasher and I went to this guy Alie Jackson he's a big black man very large and I said to him you know you know I hear you have a this training program you think I could train he goes and he's you know white boy you can sharpen my knives and we'll see how that goes. So every morning I go I'm there crack a dawn I'm sharpening the guy's knives at some point after about two weeks he's like stay away from my knives there be no knives left. no there be no knives left cuz I was just chopping them all day and he took me under his wing and actually taught me how to cook and um you know he was just incredible like a dad to me. just taught me everything, told me the truth I'm like the opposite about whatever that person was talking about with Jen Z like this guy took me under his wing, told told me the truth, told me all the things I needed to know and learn about how old were you started about 16 amazing and this guy you know besides teaching me how to cook soups he just worked for Campbell he was a hat maker but this guy I'll just tell you a quick story this guy we're making Chinese food one day me and uh this guy's satch.

everybody had a nickname growing up. So we're cooking this Canes food fried rice. our balls are on fire, the ovens are right underneath and we get in at 5:30 in the morning cooking. so this was an easy meal.

We cooked everything in the morning afternoon we take a few hours off. come back for dinner so we get off of work. it's like 100 out we just killing ourselves. Go get a beer we go back to the room.

we have like an hour left. we have to go back and we take a little nap s comes running in my room. Go wake up wake up like there was a fire. he goes.

we miss dinner. it's 10: to 7: you know the help at at 5:15 the camp at at 6:00 we go in the kitchen and we start yelling and screaming pots are throwing I'm going around the kitchen saying you let us sleep through the meal, you're future in this kitchen is uncertain I mean you may not make it I don't even know if you're going to make the summer and he's like my my my buddy Satch is like you black you you man you're the so at some point he the Al he had enough. He calls us St to get get us out of the kitchen because we're creating a Ruckus pots are flying and we're like dead serious and Satch is physically getting removed from the kitchen with two people. He won't leave because we let we the guys let us sleep through.

so on the way out I'm near the door and I go Alie why don't you wake us and he just gives me this green he goes I just thought I'd give you the night off and I think about it's like we're s 17 years old working aund and some hours a week and we're pissed off because he gave us the night off and that's the kind of Pride like that's what he instilled people say where do you get your work ethic from like I'm like you know that's a beautiful unbelievable right? you don't know I I believe that people are placed in your life trying to guide you to run it to him and then and I never would gone to college it wasn't for him. it's amazing. Never no way. he's like you got to go to college and explain how to do it, how it all worked so you know you you're very very fortunate.

I Love that. Shout out to him yeah I think I've had like different Heroes at different stages of life like different things I've been doing obviously I had great parents growing up so it's awesome and great. Um friends. you know, friends, parents that were really really pivotable in my pivotal in my life too.

um professionally I really really looked up to Jay Wright as a coach I Love J J Jay Wright was the coach of Villanova yeah he won two national championships. As a Knicks fan we're basically Villanova we're vova I'm a Knicks guy too so go uh Jaylen Brunson went to my high well I should say I went to his high school. now he was after me though but um yeah so professionally him. uh now like comedy wise I'm big Adam Sandler fan I feel like the world just needs movie? that's just like a Feelgood You know he's going to win the golf championship at the end to just give us Happy Gilmore like why is everything so complicated nowadays? Um so yeah.

because in life we find what we look for. Yeah and we've just decided to start looking for the negative. Meanwhile, the world is unlimited Positive: Yeah, it's everywhere around you. The problem is, humans see what they're looking for.

Yeah, it's just the biggest truth. Yep, I this is something I'm so passionate about. Brother: Yeah, if if you decide to look for positivity, there's unlimited positivity everywhere. Facts: Good Vibes Everywhere I think even like even in comments like you and I experien it and Gary you too and I'm sure you being on the Internet it's like you'll get hate comments of course like I mean I can't I didn't even know I had a weird neck until I got on the internet I was like oh I guess I have a weird neck and weird looks like I think I have A long neck I think it's just looks athletic good I like your neck I mean I've been putting on some weight you know what I mean you look that's good looks like take a shot to the face thanks man I wish I had that neck I think it's more just kind of like the mouth melts into the you know there's not I wish I could do like yeah that seems like you could do something CRA than guys appreciate it I B every video just get I basically just do this and breathe in my videos.

that's like J right was random though. See that coming I I think I just was awesome I I'll I'll give a quick story. really quick story I Went to go see a practice when I was coaching at York I was able to get in see a practice right he was coaching yeah I was Co coaching basketball and I he was able to hold a kid accountable a really a Fstar recruit. He was ab