If your friends do not make you feel good, they are not your friends. Attention is the number one asset. Hello and great day Everyone! my name is Jared Um, pleasure to be in your presence. Um, thank you Jar glad to have you in mine as well.

How you guys do up there? I Have one question for you. Um, being financially wealthy? Yes, Does that bring you Joy or does it just make you happy neither? Jared I Promise you. and I I Know most people, a lot of people struggle with my point of view on this real talk. I And I'm incredibly aware of some of the stresses money takes off the table.

but the amount of people that have money that I know that are incredibly unhappy, deeply insecure, deeply in depression is so much you couldn't even imagine. Money accelerates one's truth. If you're happy, you're happier. But if you're angry, you're more.

Angry Money exposes us. It doesn't change us. Thank you my guy. All right Hi everyone, my name is Michael Mcferson I'm an alumni here from my Country Day 2019 Uh, 2019? Yeah, just want to express my gratitude.

Uh, Country Day was an amazing place to grow up. I Was here from kindergarten all the way until I graduated and uh, it's definitely more than a school. It's a village a community. so just want to express my Gr.

Clap that up. So my question for you Gary is are you familiar with the law of diminishing returns graph? Yep. Okay, great. So for anyone who isn't, it's basically the notion where you know you have one dut two Donuts It's great.

by the time you get to 10, Donuts you're probably not feeling too well. So what point? Gary Does that graph start to go down for you in any of your decisions, motives, business ideas? Where do you start to say okay, any further investment is not going to bring a return, but rather the opposite effect I only know it when it starts to happen, right? I have no idea that's the coolest part of like being a human I Have no clue what I'm very good at is when it happens I adjust my life What? I'm incredibly strong of At and I feel comfortable saying this I think I stink at most things like every other person. Bless you. but I think but I think maybe one of my greatest core strengths is being able to make hard decisions when I'm no longer happy and I fight for that.

It's something I think about every day. And so for me, it was really easy because I'm only talking to you about emotional things. The law of the diminishing returns were never real for me on physical things I don't want anything I don't need stuff I don't want stuff I want to feel and so usually for me it's you know, going through a journey I'll give you a good example for the first 10 12 years of my growth as a public figure: when I would walk through an airport I would look at every single person dead in their face with the hopes that they knew who I was so we could talk now because of hitting enough of a level of that and it wasn't so much that I needed it for my ego though I always try to ask myself that it goes back to what I said earlier I just really enjoy interacting with people I like it so much. but I equally like my alone time and so what ended up happening was walking through an airport used to be 100% alone now that it could be predominantly taken up by people saying hello, wanting to P pitch me their business or tell me a story or take a photo now I'm valuing having a little balance of my own time during that time to catch up on work or family or whatever I'm doing so I don't look at every person in the face anymore when I'm at the airport I noticed that today even right and so I adjusted.

There was a point two years ago three years ago where I just changed and so the answer is I'm not sure brother, but what I would tell everybody is I don't sit on it the way most normal people do and I say normal people like I'm I'm just so this goes back to gratitude I'm not sure how I got that DNA I don't know like I don't know what happened but I don't I don't tend to sit in a place of unhappiness very long I can't function there I really can't That's what led to my weakness of cander. I don't like negativity, right? and so I uh I don't know but I also know that the second I start feeling it if it sits for a sustained period of time. I'm not knee-jerk I can deal with inconvenience or even dealing with a difficult situation, but I will not dwell in it I Think one thing my parents definitely taught me that I Highly recommend everyone is we need to stop complaining so much. I think I think that was.

that's huge for me because I think one of the reasons I act a lot and fix is cuz I don't know how to really complain like I don't really like the concept I Also think the people that listen to you complaining are just either enablers or other people that like to complain so they're waiting for their turn and so I think we need more accountability and I'm incredibly accountable if I am unhappy I don't think it's the president's fault I don't think it's my parents fault I don't think it's anyone's fault but myself and I'm in control and so I act on it. That's the insight there. Thank you! Hi uh, I'm Nick I'm a freshman at a high school up in Boa and know I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up and I know you always say oh, you're still very young but how old are you 14 years old? you're not even young, you're not even born yet Um yeah, go ahead brother. uh I don't know what I want to be So should I look for it or should it come to me? What should I do? Well, let's talk about it in a different way.

So why do you want to know what you're going to be So I can care for it? you know, maybe like study for it. Yeah I mean definitely don't study for it. Um I mean that in a in a really important way meaning of course you need to know it you know sorry Neema trying what the did you think was going to happen up here. um not all studying is bad by by the way to his let me explain what I mean by that actually to his point I study 24/7 I will tonight after I've dinner with my parents lay in their apartment from 11: or 12.

Whenever we're done to one, I will spend at least an hour studying what's happening in popular culture I study I study so much it's scary. By the way, while I was getting D's and Fs I was studying, I memorized the price of every baseball card in the world I'm being dead serious I by the time I was in high school I read the wine spectator cover to cover and was studying to understand every wine. What wines I've been studying I only study it's but where I'm going with this my man is I Just want to make sure that a couple things happen first. I Promise you that everyone in this room that's 35 years and older wishes they enjoyed their childhood a little more.

a little more fun, a little more playing couple more times to hang out. We were also focused on where we were going. We weren't able to fully maximize what we were in. You're 14 years old like you have your actually actually especially with I Don't know if anybody's paying attention to modern medicine.

this dude's going to live for 130 more years. Like actually this dude's going to be 150 years old one day on Earth Still so bro You' got a lot of time and so here's what I will say and this is actually a lot of fun cuz this actually goes for all the 40 and 50 year olds in the crowd as well who think they've wrapped up back to modern medicine and the fact that the far majority as I look around here, pretty much the majority of this room isn't at halftime in their lives. I would I would tell you to get really focused on something called curiosity if I could give you one good piece of advice. The biggest mistake that kids make in high school is they're worried about high school social dynamics and so they don't go do things that they want to do or learn about because it might not be cool or their friend group might not be about it.

So if you're into theater or if you're into science or robotics or comedy or I have no idea what's running through your mind that catches your eye on YouTube or Tik Tok or things of that nature. But the way you're going to find what you should do in life in the best way, the way the people that are the happiest that what they do is you got to go try it. You like comedy, go try to do a standup set somewhere. you know what I mean like go try stuff cuz you don't know if you love it until you try it.

I Think of life the way I Think about food. Watch this kid. How many people here do not like oysters? Raise your hand. It's okay.

just raise it high. Raise it higher please for the little guy. Okay of those people. keep your hands up.

Do not like oysters. Don't lie. how many have never had one? That's life brother. That is the thing I Am most interested in what? I just showed you in real life, a lot of people make decisions without ever trying.

Isn't that cool? Never stop curious It's curiosity like you? You just don't know, You don't know unless you try like you? just don't know, and we don't try enough stuff. all of us try more stuff sorry hi Gary um thank you for being you so inspirational. Thank you. What's your name? my name is Jen abot and I'm luxury real estate agent and I just sold to the most famous soccer player in the world and you went to SAI Arabia and sold to Ronaldo the most popular socer.

Um I'm curious. like how do I ride that wave with being respectful to to the celebrity and keeping it classy? Yeah, that's A, by the way, that's a tremendous question. I mean I think first respect comes in asking right? And the truth is it's probably there's a potential aspect where it's even awkward to ask right? Look: I Think some things do a little bit better in A B2B environment than A B Toc Environment I Think one-on-one with people in this room in your circles in the small scene that is super luxury real estate in this town. I Think people know and there's an opportunity for you to feel comfortable in closed environments to talk about the truth I think starting to put it on blast publicly which would lead to a lot more awareness I'm aware may start to cross that Chasm that may be a little, you know more of a disrespectful move and I think you know back to who we're referencing that's such a one of one like that.

that's A small group of people so you know for me I think it's about permission, you know. So I think if you want to go there and you have the strength to ask that question if it would be okay to you know respectfully and lightly reference it I think that's a question you can ask and because the worst that can happen is no reply or a no I think if you don't want to go there my personal point of view but this is a subjective opinion is it's better for smaller groups behind the scenes. and the good news is you know this in the game that you're playing you. it's not about reaching the masses, most people can't afford what you're selling and so the behind the scen stuff I think can be effective.

Thank you, you're welcome. Victoria Um I Just wanted to ask what do you think is like the key to being individual when it comes to entrepreneurship? So you and your business stands out more than the rest. the M by spending 100% of your time on the customer and spending almost no time paying attention to your competitors. Oh, you guys like that one.

I think I think it's fun to have my dad here because this was a very big thing that I was passionate about. naturally in my teenage years. you know I would tell my dad like I was a very unusual kid in that like I was obsessed with business and I would talk me. My dad and mom lived about 45 minutes away from my dad's store and so we had a long drives both to and from the store and you know I talked a lot in those drives and my dad would listen and we would talk and I remember being passionate with my dad in my teenage years and in my early 20s of like it doesn't matter what our competition does, it really doesn't like as long as we focus on the consumer and I think I've always innovated because and and Avery and Nick who are with me on my journey in Vayner X like they are probably laughing inside I can't even name most of the companies that Vayner X and Vayner media compete with I definitely can't name the CEOs of my compe like it's just irrelevant and so what I think happens when you just focus on the customer Actually like no, like focused 100% energy on the customer.

You end up innovating cuz you're so close to to the customer. you have a pulse of what they want now not what worked for someone else yesterday. Thank! You're welcome G thanks for spending some time with us man! So GCE I consumed your first piece of content I think like 8 n years ago you w a hoodie being in college. oh I remember and then it's ironic you're also here in an academic setting.

so the same one here, but you know throughout. Years Also contined to content on social media I've always been curious to ask you this question, which is you've maintained relevance for seven eight years, which is quite difficult to do, especially in social media. You talk about practice and being close to your customer. You just spoke about uh, hustle and how you changed your definition of that word.

how do you act? What's the actual practice for you look like what does that studying actually look like Because on social media within that domain, it's so difficult with the barrage of information that's coming out of you right? like you're reading comments or you're talking people on the street. How do you make the decision to say hustle is not the right word to continue hitting the right message with my audience. So so with the hustle thing or where I'm at now which is different than the reason I'm going to answer this twice is I'm about to give you advice I'm about to give you insight to someone who has a large audience and I'm aware that most people don't today. It's easy.

you know when I said tonight I'll spend an hour I will now I may go into trending topics and read a drillion different like news outlets and look at my stream and see if there's anything happening or I might just spend which happens way more often the entire hour reading all my DMs and in the DMS is where I got the in. by the way, I had no feelings towards eighth place trophies nine years ago I really was indifferent genuinely. I didn't think like I just didn't think it was a big deal until I Read a million comments from 22 and 23 and 24 year olds and got more insight to why so many people are so scared to fail and started to backtrack and have conversations. So today, my friend to answer your question, it's because unlike the far majority of my contemporaries who are fortunate of and earned enormously large audiences, I've doubled down on being close to them.

instead of the reverse, you know, most of the people that have made it from a following standpoint either gave up on reading the comments when it got too much or never really did it in the first place. For me, it's how I got there The by the way, a lot of people don't know this. the real way the Gary B thing happened was when Twitter came out in two and like started really hitting in 2007. I spent 10 hours a day on it talking to people every day I actually spent four years straight not going to sleep until I reped to every tweet and every email I got from 2007 to 2011.

So I I got here this way and so now it's easy for me to keep a pulse on it cuz it's coming to me for everyone who's trying to build it. I Still think the way to do it is to join into the conversation. meaning I think too many people think they need to consume it without participating. So going on.

X Twitter going into a Instagram post where there's content and then replying to three or four people that are replying to it I Don't think we Network or engage or conversate enough and now it's incredibly impossible because Politics on both sides of the aisle both sell fear in different form and now everyone's scared to talk to everyone because everything next year is going to be a mess because everyone's going to be on tilt because it's a presidential election and nobody wants to deal with all that negativity. You feel like you not even sure you could say anything and it becomes something that people want to fight about. and so it's really unfortunate. I have uh I've heard you talk about auditing your close like friend group right? your circle as you grow.

These circles change. What's your advice on staying authentic with those that you truly connect with even though you might be out growing of them by by just reallocation. You know a lot of people here, so what he's referring to is I talk a lot about like and I was just touching on a little bit. like.

Here's my punchline: I Think people spend way too much time on negativity I don't know to really tell you and so there's a lot of people unhappy because you consume unhappy things, the news, and you hang around unhappy people, relatives that are unhappy. and I don't think you should cut out and no longer talk to your homies. You know, like I hate when people hear it and think they've outgrown their friends and they want to get bougie. That's not what I'm saying I'm saying pay attention to everybody you spend time with and what you consume and you you know.

like that whole saying when we were growing up. like you become who you hang out with like it's just super real. like whatever you're consuming is what's dictating your point of view. and so I think the way you do that because I I believe in ly loyalty so much I'm incredibly loyal to my friends I'm still in touch with everybody I've ever grown up with, but my allocation of time with them may be different than it was when I was best friends with them when I was 10 or 20 and so I would tell you you don't have to cut people out of your life, but you need to communicate to them why you're limiting your time with them.

And by the way that may Inspire them to look inside and pay attention to what they're thinking about. Thank you for coming! Um I have two questions. What's your name Brother? Cam Cam It's so nice to meet you. Thank you nice to meet you too.

Call me car How do you study Trends And the second question is what do you think the new generation should start investing in And how so the way I study Trends is that I think people have a very very very distorted view of social media. So social media in my opinion are empty pipes that people fill with information. not the government, not though they're allowed, not the you know some Lords behind, not the Illuminati Us and I think what social media has done extremely well in the last 5 years seven years is not change us I think it's exposed us and I don't think people like what they see. but if you're like me, you love what you see I consume unlimited amounts of social media personally not when I'm doing my professional work which I'll answer in a minute and I see nothing but happiness because I choose to follow people that are optimistic and practical and trying to provide good and I think everyone here.

if I asked you to think of three very good people, you can do it. The question is why don't you spend more time with those people and less with the ones that are not as good? That becomes the interest question. So how do I study Trends I consume Facebook Twitter Snapchat Instagram and all the platforms as they pop up and I watch what people are talking about and what they consume I go to Google Trends It's free so if something catches my eye I then go to Google Trends I look at how many people are searching it I put in the work. That's how I do it.

As far as what I think you should invest in the answer to that question my man is self-esteem instead of crypto or real estate or cannabis or trading cards or something like that. Definitely don't do cannabis at this age. Um I Think the biggest thing that will have an impact on you being able to achieve what you want is you need to start right now. Which is what every person in this Auditorium wish they did.

At your age, you need to start in realizing the most important truth in the world. which is you need to figure out how to start loving yourself yesterday. You need to figure out my man, the world is going to be very good at telling you what you're not good at. What you need to focus on is realizing that you're good at plenty of things.

You might have not found them all but that you're a good person and you have good intent and we you really have to work on that. And I promise you, especially at the age you're at right now, pay attention to the friends that you hang out with. You need to figure out if they make feel good and if they don't, even if they're the most popular or the coolest, you need to cut them out. If your friends do not make you feel good they are not your friends.

Can I can I speak one more? Is that? okay? of course. Okay, go ahead brother. go fast! Hi G Thank you for coming! Uh, my name is Valer Kuk uh I'm a I'm an alumni from 2017 and I really wish that people like you would come visit us more often. uh when I was back in high school but I'm very glad that my co day is giving me this opportunity for a future generation.

How old are you brother? Uh, 24. You're young enough I know you're good. good that we're here Now go ahead. my question is about networking networking.

um I My current dream is to go back to Ukraine after the war and be part of uh, rebuilding the the country's economy. That's awesome and uh I really want to go into Venture Capital field? Okay, uh I currently do not have any real Network in America because I was I came back I came back to uh America after BL word again and I'm trying to expend my network at the moment. uh and I've been trying to do cold calling emailing uh LinkedIn messages but I haven't been really getting a lot of replies. uh I was wondering if you have any advice to what could be I have a huge advice.

So the the issue with Cold Calling and Cold emailing and Linkedin is and by the way, I'm I'm a fan of it. but the problem is you're asking right? It's this is a very simple game out here. It's a game of someone asks and then then there's the other person on the other side of it and the other person on the other side of it. Depending on how often they get asked and depending on how they see the world, the likelihood of them reciprocating is quite low.

So I'm a big believer of not being in a position where you're asking and don't have the leverage. I believe in the reverse, which is why I'm so passionate about content on the internet. You want to be inventure capitalist. Okay, I understand theoretically why, but the question is, do you have anything to provide in value right? And so I believe the answer is yes to everyone.

but I think you need to put that out there. Here's what I mean if I'm you I'm putting out content on LinkedIn about your point of view on how to invest in startups. What you see in startups, What you see in small businesses. I would do history work and look at the two, three, four, five most recent examples of countries that are in postwar environments and how that ecosystem was built to build it back up right What happened in the former Yugoslavia after what happened in the mid 90s and make content around your pattern recognition that you saw what happened in Serbia and Croatia postwar and how that worked over a 25 year window and how you see that playing out in the Ukraine I promise you that if you had a thoughtful strategy like I just articulated to you like I just talked about the former Yugoslavia that you would catch people's attention if you posted 20, 30, 40, 50 times.

Not to mention you'd have something to put in your email when you're cold calling right? and you're cold emailing. So for everyone in this room, I'm stunned by how many people leave it to chance and luck and a referral. The reality is the ultimate referral right now is the ability to post content anywhere for free. It's free.

LinkedIn doesn't charge you to post and get people to see it. So if I'm you I go heavy on the attack and don't be scared because the issue is everyone thinks they have to be an expert. You just have to be an Enthusiast Let me say this. slow cuz this is Huge.

Most of you were not posting about something like this that you want because you realize internally you're not educated or you don't have strength in it. That's irrelevant. meaning it would be wonderful if you did. It's a it's definitely good, but if you have the humility to communicate from a point of view of enthusiasm or subjective point of view or hypothesis, we've just taken so many words out.

Everyone thinks they have to be an expert or a guru. That's silly as a when I started my business Journey it was. These are the things I felt naturally. are they right and over time that built and so you can go with like look here's my truth: I'm from this place.

Here's what I sense and by the way, a lot of people will value that from being from that part of the world. There are tons of American businessmen and women who know that they don't have the context of the area but might see the opportunity and may need a liaison or a decoder or a translator so you don't have to act or fake the funk. You just need to tell your truth of what you see and what you know about your people and I think you need to post that otherwise you're reaching out to people that get do you how many cold emails I get a day I have three full-time employees just to delete them and I'm weird and answer some of them and I like it so you know I think the reality is you have to put yourself in a position the way when I research tonight I may hit up a random kid in Alberta because I like what she or h said about something I'm paying attention to put yourself in a position for them to come to you instead of asking them than you got it all right. One last one last, we're never going home.

Go ahead. So as a current High School what's your name? My name's LCA Bonito I'm a 10th grader at this school. Awesome! So as a current high school student, it seems everyone's telling me college is becoming more and more important. You know we? Mr not to call him out, but he really emphasizes how important college is and my parents are too.

And after hearing that you were successful person I got D's and Fs in school but still was able to come out of school, get a job, and become successful. I'm wondering: do you think today where it's even more competitive and harder to get a job without a college degree? How important do you think it is today to do well in school and go to a good college? I Think it's a very individual Journey You know when I was in 10th Grade I was selling an ungodly amount of wine and baseball cards and making money? Are you doing that right? So we're different and so I think the thing that's dangerous about anything. By the way, there's unlimited people who got straight A in their life and are dramatically more successful to me. And then obviously the theme of tonight I Think people are picking up on it I'm not even worried about the successful part financially.

I'm desperately petrified that most people don't understand how to become successfully emotionally right. I Promise: at the end of the day, your parents, as you get older will be much happier that you're happy versus how much income you make. I Promise Parents get caught up in the game, especially in incredible institutions like this. I'm empathetic to it, but you know I think parents need to spend more time looking at people 20 or 30 years older than them and realize that there's unlimited parents right now and they're 70s and 80s who are devastated that their children are unhappy.

but they happen to be great lawyers in doctors and successful businessmen and women. So brother I Promise you both your parents and this incredible institution will be okay. Whether you get straight A's or B's or C's or that I think the bigger question is, do you know yourself? You know I think like there's unlimited people who are successful and happy that got straight A's and there's unlimited people who are successful and happy who got D's and Fs The question is, who are you? Which version of the game are you? What do you like? Who do you want to be? and I think that's what you need to focus on cuz that's going to lead to much better outcomes for the next 100 Years of your life than whether you get A's or FS I promise.