Instagram's free in marketing. Do you know how insane that is? Go try to call the newspaper of this town and ask them to put an ad in the paper for free. Go run a commercial on Seven for free. Go get a billboard on these nice little streets out there for free.

Shut the up! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. What's good? Thank you thank you Brizzy Happy to be here. Oh this All right? Well I'll Stand Let's stand okay we're in a city Brisbane Where Shout out the pandemic. they'll hit by twice.

A lot of businesses went underground and the floods just literally killed them. How do you? How do you have the right mindset when uncontrollables kind of take over and out of the job? What's an interesting question? I Think you know this is why I'm so passionate about gratitude, right? you know? I Think I Think that most humans complain about dumb and then something real happens and you realize how dumb it was. And so you know When life throws you very challenging moments, the places I go are. well, one you had no choice, right? It's not like you could predict that a flood was going to come and do these horrible things you have to adapt to reality.

Everybody here in their life will be met with real challenges you know. God Willing Most people live a long life which also then comes along with losing people that you love so much you know. I Think many people have all agreed around the world that the scariest thing in life is losing a child. Many people will go through that.

There are always challenges but I think when I hear that question, my brain goes into two places: deep, deep gratitude for waking up every day and that not happening. and I think people struggle with enjoyment in the Simplicity of that which is why I push it so hard I can tell you it is foundational to my happiness. You know when I wake up this morning? I'm not thinking about how cool it is to have an audience like this come out for me on a Saturday You know how humbling this is. Do you know how grateful? I mean it's I love you back, but it's this is a Saturday like you know, like thank you but I don't think about that I don't think about that video I watch almost predominantly embarrassed.

You know, really I mean it. That's not what I'm thinking about I'm thinking about like when I woke up like oh good, another day when nothing crazy happened and I think that way every day and then when things do happen that are challenging. ironically the first place I go is gratitude for the fact that it doesn't normally happen or it hadn't happened before. and then I go into getting my stomach punched and dealing with the reality of it and trying to lead and clean up and fix and try to make things better for tomorrow because you have no choice I don't see a whole lot of value in dwelling or you know I think that there should be room for space for you.

To you know, go through the pain, you know I think a lot of people put up a front, especially with a death or something extreme like you should have some breathing room to mourn and you know, deal with that. But to dwell and complain is the least thoughtful and strategic energy in the world. And right now we have a lot of dwelling and complaining normally about you can't control that actually isn't you up. it's the dwelling and complaining.

That's you up your parents I mean they had sex at the right second so that you know that's a big deal. Um, so I got to give him a lot of props for that. Um, my mom is an all-time mom. She built a mindset in me that I feel like I would actually argue that what I'm doing here right now is trying to scale what my mom did for me for society because it's so clear to me that she deserves an extraordinary amount of the credit.

Not only do I share a lot of her, DNA she also cultivated me. She was my core parent. and then when I got a little bit older I started working my dad's store and he put in some incredibly strong principles into me because he's a very honorable man and you know this is why I'm not embarrassed about the video or about what's going on with me because I don't really think me is me I think me as my parents and my circumstance and the reality of where I came from and how it like I'm the byproduct I I I'm really not attached to the me of it all I do like the things I built because I feel like I'm cultivating those things, my mentorship, the companies I build but it's really easy for me to give all I mean at some level brother all of it like I really struggle to think about like my like I'm proud of my hard work and like the things I've done. but I also know how much of that was instilled in me.

so I'm I'm a huge byproduct of them. You mentioned many different chapters and your early entrepreneurial kind of stuff you were doing. Yes, well, I'm just hanging with some individuals in Green Room I was talking about like there's a lot of people like Gary you know I'm about to start this business and I'm scared to fail and my brain always goes into like you're probably gonna fail especially if you've never done business before. like watching entrepreneurship and business get cool in the last 10 15 years has been frightening Like most of the beautiful faces I'm looking at here right now have not put in the practice nor have the talent to actually do it.

but that's not bad, not bad. That's actually Epic if you actually go into it knowing you're gonna fail and so you know what I mean because all I ever did as a kid was business of and I had natural talent in it. of course this happened. You know many people stay students and athletes for the predominant part of their life as a child and then they go to more school and then they go to real life and they're confused to why It's hard.

It's because you haven't lived real life yet. you've been playing in a fake environment and so I learned all the mistakes at six and eight and ten and thirteen and twelve and 14 and 19 and 23 and I still make a shitload. But if you've not trained at all for a marathon, how the are you gonna run? And so for a lot of people here who are deciding to run for the first time in an environment like that should, whether you're 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80. but to go in with audacity that you think it's going to work when you never trained is insane and so like people always roll up and be like Garyvee like at the airport Garyvee So bro.

I'm gonna build a billion dollar company I'm like all right like you know if I ask them one question they're like no, not yet but I'm like and I'm like then you're probably not and that's okay. Like I think people have what to put on a pedestal all up. You know, a billion dollar company like that's for point Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero zero. One percent of people like how about enjoying the process of building a company and hoping it doesn't go out of business because if you pull that off, you're remarkable because 99 of people got a business practice like this is the biggest problem with modern parenting.

We think it's good to keep kids away from pain. Yeah, of course. like I Only like kids that cry after they lose like this concert. like don't cry, it's just a game you Mom Life's a game like eighth place trophies like these leagues that have popped up that don't get winners.

What the are we doing like we need? You know you. We said it yesterday and I'll say it again here. like I think every kid should get into at least one fight like I don't think you're a real man until you get punched in the face. you know, and you know, like And then we're just over coddling an entire generation.

I I'm so tired of Gen Xers and Boomers on Gen Z you are the one who parented them like parents come up to me all the time. like Gary my kid like you gotta talk to him like he's just off I'm like you stop paying his rent you you want your 20 plus year old to be better, Don't give them money like we're just we got it all backwards like we're micromanaging them. You don't need to know where they are at every second. When I was eight in New Jersey in 1983 my mom had no clue where I was I was on the train tracks like oh here comes the train.

uh push your friend like we were doing all sorts of things I'd pick up a stick and like hit my friend and that's why we have resilience. Do you know what happens to zoo animals when we all tell them to free Like not like people get mad sometimes like this is up. free the zoo animals. They shouldn't be in cages.

Do you know what happens? They put them in the wild and they die within a minute. They're not ready for the jungle Parents: I'm telling you, get out of your kids business. let them paint a little bit and it's crazy out here. Like your kids like like okay, like parents take their kids to the playground, a kid pushes them and the parent jumps in and wants a fight.

Kid gets a D in school and the parent goes to school and now fights about grades. Get out of your kid's yeah. Let them get beat up, Promise or teach them how to fight. Is that parenting or you think has caused a lot of people to kind of doubt themselves? Yeah.

And how do you grow confidence by living actual life and realizing there's nothing wrong with it? Like losing is great. Losing is great. Like all like this is losing like what are you scared of? Like what's gonna happen like you don't mean people here like Gary I want to make like we're about to do Q A Gary I want to post but I'm like I'm like what's gonna happen. Your sister's gonna text you and say you look like an idiot like you're You're gonna only get three views and you're gonna be upset like what's so scary.

Everyone keeps living their entire adult life like they're still in high school. Like yes I think that parents are over coddling. but but then you become. here's my point and then you're 25.

Like this is where I'm very hot on the parenting thing. But then there's another part of them. There's the other side of the pillow. Yes I understand your parents did this and yes I understand they did that.

But now you're 25. Exactly. you're 25 Now You're Gonna Keep crying about Mommy and Daddy or are you going to stand on your own feet? Go to therapy, start working out, start meditating, start surrounding yourself with positive people. Like when are you gonna stop blaming them? There's grown-ass 50 year olds in here blaming their whole life on their parents.

Okay and what? You're just gonna blame them your whole life and then die. How about accountability? So yes, Do I think it happens? Yes, nature and nurture was figured out long before I was on Earth My question is what are you gonna do about it I Talk about loving my parents and they're awesome and a lot of people here follow me and know that. and I can sit here the rest of my life telling you what they did wrong I just don't have the energy to think about it I Focus on what they did right? Yeah. I Focus on what they did right I Mean like like how many people here have followed me for more than three years? Raise your hands, thank you.

So you have an incredible my parents and I sit around and have dinner and just laugh about this. Yeah, they're like they're like I'm more very close. They're like man, you've really made us out to be insanely awesome. like you know, like I just don't know how to focus on what they've done wrong I could I could if I like try to focus I can tell you and of course I thought about it I just don't know what to do with that energy.

What? What are you gonna what? And by the way, like I said a V Con: their parents them up I get so mad when my friends and acquaintances and co-workers are like my mom's up but my granny's awesome and then I met the granny and I'm like the granny up the line. your granny is a piece of you just didn't You just didn't see her that often you know I just I just don't understand the blame game. the Dwell game I understand it because 99 of Earth walks around and lives in it I just would prefer them to get out of it because I don't know. like living a happy life is a much better idea than not cool I mean man I lost a lot like I I mean look I've I've when I think about my life until I was like 14 if I lost in any game I would cry for an hour anything absolutely anything and and lots of things like I peed my bed until I was like 12.

and like was petrified of that like was scared to go to like sleepovers because I'd be like man if I piss my bed in this situation this could be it. Um I lost I I much like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier I had a Trilogy fight with Odette Weinstock and I lost the middle one in junior high because he pushed me into a locker and the code hit my ribs and me up and then he jumped on top of me and then the teachers came and then I got that. was kind of like a small scrimmage but I got to lunch and everyone's like Odette beat up Gary and I was like and that was like horrible like I can't we had a fight after school and I revenged my loss and so I mean I I had a thousand I mean a thousand dollars in baseball cards, have one show and then like the money burned a hole in my pocket. you know you don't have a car when you're 14 as we all know and my mom went to Costco and they had these cards there and they were shitty cards and I knew it but I didn't have the discipline yet to be patient and I spent all one thousand dollars on buying all the boxes because I couldn't wait to get home and open all the packs and I got nothing I got 18 15 100 worth of cards out of all those boxes and I kind of had to start all over to build up my game and that was devastating.

That's a lesson that is a lesson of like don't let the money burn a hole in your pocket, don't buy dumb or it might not work out I mean I could sit here for I mean tons of losses I I mean I would argue the like in the way that people think about life. I would say the first 12 years of my career were a loss I worked 15 hours a day every day seven days a week, built a business for someone else and had to start vaynermedia in a conference room at 34 years old of another company because I didn't have enough money to have pay for rent. Now that person was my dad so it makes it better. but I didn't make any money for what I created I'm always losing I shouldn't even be here.

No. I'm being dead serious. Actually, this trip is not really mathematically right for me, but that's not what I Value I'm not trying to extract the most amount of cash value I miss being in Australia So I want it to come? You understand I wanted I Love supporting young entrepreneurs. You're trying to do something.

I'm aware that me being here is a platform for you to do the next thing. It's not. it's not I don't think the way most people think. So when people say like, what are your losses, you know this like I think nothing and I think everything I don't think anything's been a loss because nothing atrocious has happened and then I can sit here and tell you another 57 stories of that went wrong in the way that people think like, do you know many people are sitting right now here and around the world saying if I just made that decision three years ago different everything would be better.

Do you know how crazy that is? If I there's people sitting here right now being like I shouldn't have married this person or I shouldn't have taken this job or I should have invested in that or I should have bought that property or I should have joined my parents business I shouldn't have joined. All people are doing are looking backwards, looking backwards up your neck my friends I Also don't know if you know this Brizzy but I have some shocking news. There's no such thing as a time machine. Spending time of what the mistake you made seven years ago is a problem.

You can't walk into a machine and go back. It's over, It's over and the only people that are listening to you complain about it are other people that are losing. Yep, what's the difference between patients and getting involved? Complicity: There are two different words: Ethan and I like what you're doing. you're taking, you know the the prior to interviews and you're adding it to here.

So I like what you're doing right now because the I like that you picked up on me talking about that the last two times. they're two different words. like but people interpret how they want to. Yeah in life.

One of the most fascinating things is you find what you're looking for. You will find what you're looking for my friends. This is why I laugh. When everybody blames the algorithms, the algorithms are us up.

Your pessimism is you up when I open my phone. The first video is a boy saving a cat in a tree. The next one is a mom loving a son. The next one is sunshine is good.

The next one is like life is awesome. I'm not seeing what you're seeing because I'm not spending my time on what you're spending your time on. You're in control of your algorithm. Oh and if you don't like it I don't know if you heard you can delete it off your phone like people like you know in America very politically going on.

Other you got your own going on here like in America like every four years. if this guy wins the election I'm moving to Canada and in America we've had both Republicans and Democrats and you know I'm older now I've been through a bunch of Elections News Alert: nobody's living in Canada and like and again if you don't like it I don't know if you know this if you don't like what's going on with in Australia move. We just don't have accountability like take control. Everybody is just given up control.

The government's me up, my mom's me up my boss me up. Quit Your boss is you up Quit. Well you don't get a Gary up like I Do get it quit. You have less money I Understand.

Sell your house and go rent. You put the pedestal of owning a house on a pedestal over your own happiness I Do understand you don't understand ing strategy. Yes yes. tell us why and how you found the emotional Improvement it happens and flows I Bet you know right now is I'm on mindset.

but like I'm sure of it that in three or four years, whether it's AI or VR there'll be something so big that I'll get hot on. spending two years talking about the tactics to take advantage of the thing. and for the people, how many people have been following me for seven years or more? Just raise your hand. Thank you.

And those people know that there's times where I'm hot on this I spent the whole year telling all of you to get on tick tock. Four years ago, most of you did not listen foreign. then I'm here. Then I'm here.

My job is to react to what I'm feeling and reading from all of you and then try to decide what at the moment I can bring the most value from and that's how I live my life. and so how did I get here? I Started to realize wait a minute I can tell you everything about Tick Tock But if you're insecure to jump into a platform that you think is too young for you, well, you're not going to do it. So I better start telling you why you're doing that. And so I'm just ebbing flowing parenting.

You know, right? Like when you're how many people here are parents, right? All of us we ebb and flow right. Like my mom continues to tell me, she's like I'm still gonna parent you even though you're grown and like I get it like it's a forever game and probably because I had such a great parent I have this incredible feeling to want to parent the world. And so I'm talking about this right now because I'm watching all of you give up control. You're blaming everybody.

You've gotten really good at blaming technology and government and I don't think you should because if you do and you think you're not in control and can't do anything about it, you get sad. and sad is bad is bad because you I don't know if you know this but you were not born for a long time like the world's been going on for a long time before you showed the up and then you're gonna live. You're gonna die I don't know if you know this and then the world's gonna go on for a long time. You like that one.

It's true. My point is like okay, so hey it's so hard you know. This is why that video 400 trillion to one went so viral. For me it's crazy.

The odds at least what the scientists say I have no idea of being a human being is 400 trillion to one. So what I know is as I look around here like we won right? Like back to my story about the credit. like maybe my mom would have had a headache that night I wouldn't exist. So my point is, you've won the whole thing.

You're gonna come on this Earth and just dwell your way into death. that one of the ingredients. Well so I'm sitting up here with tons of you know bravado and feeling great about my vision of like how life should be and I had a big hole in my chest a real vulnerability and it was called on stage. What? I've been doing for the last 20 minutes Candor is my strength because I don't I'm looking at you as a whole I'm not talking to an individual person, but in my life the more I loved you, the more I knew you the more I struggled with giving Candor I didn't want to hurt feelings I didn't like the confrontation I struggled with it enormously because I was able to navigate around it I was always able to find my own happiness and all the things I'm talking about.

but what I didn't realize was it was building. Resentment and resentment is dangerous and so you know between life events and work events. I got to a place in my early to mid 40s where I realized that Candor was my kryptonite in all this happiness. I'm a human too and there was little things those were easy but Candor was a big thing, you know.

I Looked at a Facebook group of former Vaynermedia employees and everyone was just on me. These were the people that were most upset with me. These were the people that I wasn't able to give feedback to that. They were bad and they were just stunned when they got fired.

This was a hole. This was a vulnerability and I had a decision to make. Was I going to listen to the I talk about here on stage and take accountability and fix it. or was I going to use all my success and happiness and just look the other way and I chose the latter because that's the better game and it hurt.

It hurt to take on that accountability. It hurt when I feel like I'm building the best culture and I have all the best intent and I got to that. There are people that I've done wrong by, but it was because of Candor I thought it was doing right by them by not hurting their feelings, but I was hurting the ultimate feelings and so candor's been a journey for me. when I finally got to this I I did to myself what I do to the world I marketed to myself I created this concept of kind Candor and that felt comfortable that I was going to give to Canada but I was going to make it really nice and really thoughtful and it's changed the course of my life.

And I think there's a lot of people who struggle with Candor and I highly recommend you realize how dangerous that is and you got to find a way whether it's therapy, couples therapy um, just practicing like I did the way just for everybody. Like the way I fixed it was now it was in my face before it was subconscious I was blind to it when it became obvious to me through that journey of that period in my life I practicing I just started calling meetings I mean I would literally email someone like hey, can I speak with you for 15 minutes this one I went in one year from somebody coming to me and being like hey, can you give me some feedback Is everything going well no and I would be like this person stinks at their job I'm like you're epic brecca like you're great I couldn't do it to reaching out to people and setting up 15 minutes and being like hey it's not going well that's a big Journey and I practiced and now I still feel like nauseous when I know I'm gonna have to fire someone the night before. Things that nature but not the same way because I know I've done a lot of things along the way to at least not making it shocking or inappropriate. and I'm really you know one of the reasons I stand up here and push the things that come out of my mouth is I know how hard that was for me I know how hard physical health was for me.

Going to the gym and eating right does not come natural to me for you. Saw the videos 10 years ago, you know? like but I've gone through a journey I'm doing things that don't come natural to me that I'm putting work into and I'm fixing them I don't think I'm special I Think everybody in here can do the same, but first you have to see it, then you have to own it and then you have to practice. It doesn't really affect you at the moment. What about someone that's in the audience that kind of struggles with somebody else to think about themselves? how they made? How can they work on that empathy, sympathy, compassion.

The reason I don't really struggle with people on me is I feel bad for them. You know the concept of I'm going to go around the Imagine waking up in the morning opening your phone, looking through stuff figured by something and and saying something that you want to say to hurt someone that's not happiness. That's the complete reverse. and so when I read like Gary you're full of.

None of this is true I'm not feeling bad for me I'm feeling bad for them. and so I think we don't have enough compassion and empathy. You know like I really don't think people have enough sympathy. like I think everything's about me, me, me, me.

Which is why when you're like you're ugly, you're fat, you're stupid. you'll never achieve it. you're thinking about me instead of saying then everything I do is about them. So when I see that I'm not thinking about me I'm thinking about them and I'm like, why would someone do that? Wow, they're in such a bad place that the only way they can deal with it is trying to have someone else feel like them.

They're in a full misery. Loves company place man. I Feel bad for them. Compassion: One of the things you mentioned.

a lot of things for someone that wants to get better than get better going to business. but I don't have that urgency haven't They kind of instill that in other ways, you know? I I Don't think it's urgency per se. I mean it's one of the variables I Just think it's a lot of the stuff we're talking about here, which is self-awareness is fascinating like you know. I think I I Think a lot of this comes down to posturing.

You know, like I want to go a step further than that. even like I just I Think a lot of people are doing and they don't even realize why. right? Like like getting better at marketing is called practice but also understanding that you might not naturally be good at it. I could practice all I want in singing I Have a funny feeling if I started singing half this room would be leaving within the next five minutes.

You know, like like you can't like, you have to be self-aware you have to put in the work. Like There's a lot of reasons why someone would get better at marketing. But my question is why if you're not good at it like why are you not good at it? Have you not put in the work Most likely? But why didn't you put in the work? Normally it's because you don't like it and so like now why are you doing it? Oh you want the money because what you think buying shit's gonna fix the Gap in your heart. That's the.

That's interesting to me. You know what I mean. Like people, people are completely commit. People that don't have money are completely convinced that money is going to solve it and they're wrong.

They're wrong because what they should be doing is find 10 people that they know somehow someway that have lots of money and they should hang out with them as much as humanly possible for a year. And what they'll learn is it definitely doesn't make you happy. Yeah, and so I Just think that Society has gotten too commercial. like what we put on a pedestal are the wrong things.

People that have money, people have followers, people have Fame Success. It's fine, it's it's fine. It's good. It can be good.

but man, we just really have to get back to Basics around here. Like the reason most of the people in this room are not good at marketing is either it doesn't come natural to them or they're doing it for a reason. That isn't the reason you know and so you know I think I don't think urgency is going to make them better at it I Think practice makes you better at everything. but if you don't like something, you're not going to practice.

There's some people here who've practiced tennis their whole life because they liked it. You know, not because they thought they were going to be. Novak Djokovic and and I think in work we don't see it that way. the money conversations convoluted and I think that more people would make more money by doing they like that doesn't seem obvious that money is going to come from it, then doing things that they think the money's in because somebody's in real estate and you go get a real estate license and you become a real estate person.

If you're not good at selling and you're not passionate about real estate, you're going to fail and so chasing where you think the money is has led to a lot of people not making money a lot more. Uh, you saw on that that's Values Balance or are you like someone below like Balance of I just want to actually balances the place I Stand on balance is I'm asking everyone here who gets to decide what balance is people like Gary You know, but you don't have any work-life balance am I cool John Tell me what work life balance is like Am I supposed to work nine to five five days a week Is that work-life balance? like who made up that like why not work nine to three three days a week France thinks so you know, like what's balance and for me, balance has ebbed and flow in different ways. There was parts of my life where I wanted to work every minute. There was other parts where I didn't because family Dynamics kicked in.

by the way I never worked with New York Jets play I don't give a if it's the most important day of my business. like the three biggest speaking uh events I've ever been offered I declined because the Jets were playing that's my balance I chose that I needed those four hours of escapism of a passion over the money. Bad financial decision good emotional decision balance I Just think that's do you know what do you know why the balance conversation even exists Ethan laughs The balance the word balance and work life balance are very similar to another word that I find very interesting. Lucky and a Lot and Balance are words that people that aren't doing use to weaponize to make themselves feel better that aren't doing.

Now for social media, organic or platforms right now. I Think anybody here who, how many people here are doing social media content for themselves or business or something of that nature, Raise your hands, raise them high I want to get a sense if you are not doing Facebook reels, you're missing a huge opportunity at this exact second. that's a humongous platform I would argue most people are not. Facebook's a little forgotten for a lot of people.

so Facebook Reels is huge Organic. similar to Tick Tock. Four years ago, you could have nothing very little and post start posting what you're posting on Instagram and Tick Tock on Facebook reels and you will be fascinated by how much organic reach is there. I think LinkedIn is wildly underused by everyone here I Think if you're selling, you know people think LinkedIn is B2B business.

If you're selling frisbees, you should be posting on LinkedIn. So I think LinkedIn is very good organic reach and then I think those two are the underpriced attention. Then the next question becomes where the attention the reach is fair. Then it becomes a game of best, right? So one of my favorite other excuses Ethan is like people dming me like Gary I need your help I'm Shadow banned when I click there.

You know this is the weird I do brother then I click their account and look at their content I'm like ah got it. Go back to the DM Hey brother, you're not Shadow Band you just suck. Everybody here wants to blame the algorithm. Oh I'm not getting as much reach on my Facebook on my Instagram They just want my, they just want ads.

They want the money. No no, the reach was free I Love everyone's like these platforms. It's free. Like you post and people see it and they don't charge you.

Yeah. I'm just gonna say this nice and slow. Instagram's free. Yeah In marketing.

Do you know what insane that is? Go try to call the newspaper of this town and ask them put an ad in the paper for free. Go run a commercial on Seven for free. Go get a billboard on these nice little streets out there For free. It's free.

Shut the up. So back to the point. If it's free and everyone's there, then it becomes competitive. Everyone's like, oh, there's too many people now that are influencers.

I'm like yeah, you're complaining because you're one. You're the problem. Quit It's called free. It's called Merit It's called survival of the Fittest.

And instead of crying about the algorithm or all these other people, how about getting better at it And better at it means knowing how to title your videos, what the thumbnail needs to look like, What the first three seconds should look like? The copy that you support it with what time you post it, how you engage in the comments, and what are the platform differences of a carousel versus a reels versus a straight post? And having a hook And like, how about realizing this is a skill instead of dumb luck? And what about putting in the hours of reading and testing and working to be good at it? Or you can blame the algorithm.