The Jamie Kern Lima Show - Gary Vee: Your AI & Social Media Must-Knows + 7 Life-Changing Keys to Success! Pt 1 Gary Vaynerchuk
Episode Date: August 19, 2025If you’ve ever felt uncertain about the future - with AI, social media, and the rapid pace of digital growth – if you’ve wondered will I even have a job in a few years? Will AI replace us all? D...oes college still matter? What should I tell my partner, my friends, my kids or grandkids and to do so that they have a bright future? If you have these questions, then this episode is for you. Today’s guest is known by millions as someone who predicts what’s next…and can tell us exactly what he thinks we should do to put our lives and our future in perspective, today. Gary Vanyerchuk, known as GaryVee is someone who’s not only built billion-dollar businesses, he’s shaped the way so many understand branding, marketing, entrepreneurship and getting attention online in big ways. Gary is a serial entrepreneur and serves as the Chairman of VaynerX, the CEO of VaynerMedia, and the CEO and Creator of the entertainment and collectibles company VeeFriends. Gary is considered one of the leading global minds on what’s next in culture, business, and the internet. He was an early investor in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, Snapchat, Coinbase, and Uber. He is a six-time New York Times bestselling author, and documents his daily life as a CEO through his social media channels, which have more than 45 million followers, His podcast, “The GaryVee Audio Experience,” ranks among the top podcasts globally. He’s a newlywed to his wife Mona, a dad of 2, and he’s the person millions of people look to daily, and he’s taken time out of his busy schedule, he’s flown here and is in person on the podcast just for you today! From advice on mindset, to how to succeed on social media, with AI, in entrepreneurship and how to know exactly what’s coming next, and what to do about it in a world of technology and AI that’s changing by the second! I am so excited for this conversation! ____ Are You Ready to believe in YOU?🙌 jamiekernlima.com 👈 Sign up for my FREE Inspirational Newsletter and get ready for your self-worth to soar!🩷 Also, please make sure to take 2 seconds and click the “Follow” button right here on this page to follow me and the podcast, I’m so grateful and thank you SO much! Chapters: 0:00 Welcome to The Jamie Kern Lima Show 7:15 Overcome Fear THIS Way! 8:50 “Stop Overvaluing Youth & Undervaluing Wisdom” 19:55 How to Get People To Love You 27:04 #1 Key to Success on Social Media 41:15 Stop “Dwelling” to Win! 43:07 What Would You Do If You Had Zero Fear? ____ And whether you're joining me today for yourself or because someone that you love shared this episode with you, I want to welcome you to the Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast family. And remember this episode is not just for you and me. Please share it with every single person that you know because it can change their life too. It’s such an honor to share this podcast together with you. And please note: I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Click Here to Subscribe to the YouTube Channel Follow me here: Instagram TikTok Facebook Website — Sign up for my inspirational newsletter for YOU at: jamiekernlima.com — Looking for my books on Amazon? Here they are! WORTHY Believe IT
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Never said this publicly,
so it's fun to give you the exclusive.
Gary!
You ready?
I don't know if you're seeing my goosebumps here.
Regret is the great thing we should fear.
And if you do not chase your dream
or you jump into the water, if you don't go for it,
all because you're scared what your spouse,
your siblings, your parents, your neighbors,
your friends, or worst of all,
a random person on the internet that leaves
comment on the post.
Think about you, you will wake up at 70, 80, 90, 100,
and you will regret the way you lived your only life.
We have this little sliver, and to not squeeze
this little orange of life for every ounce of juice
that it has is devastating to me.
I was scared to ride a bike.
I was scared to kiss a girl.
I was scared a lot, but I then jumped,
and I wasn't scared.
What they're doing now to,
to protect themselves from the micro hurt of judgment is going to be super trumped by the macro
hurt of regret in their later years.
So good.
That is so good.
You have two kids.
Do you want more kids?
This is the first time ever told the story.
Success leaves clues and when people betray you or hurt you or go against you or you
don't let that take up your capacity by staying in a
place of resentment you quickly go to how could I have helped them you go to a place
of love it's fascinating I just am imagining how much of your capacity is
freed up my to your wow what an observation I believe the reason I can do nine
million things and I do nine million things is that I do not have the ability to
dwell if you've ever felt uncertain about the future with AI social
media and the rapid pace of digital growth. If you've ever wondered, will I even have a job
in a few years? Will AI replace us all? Does college still matter? What should I tell my partner,
my friends, my kids, or grandkids to do so that they have a bright future? If you have
these questions, then today's episode is for you. My guest is known by millions as someone
who predicts what's next and can tell us exactly what he thinks we should do to put our lives
and our future in perspective today. Gary Vaynerchek, no, as Gary Vee is someone who's not only
built billion dollar businesses. He shaped the way so many understand branding, marketing,
entrepreneurship, and getting attention online in big ways.
I can lose every dollar I have. I could be universally disliked by the public.
literally I'm not crippled at all by that.
I have this, in fact, I have almost like a weird, dark fantasy
of like, I was very aware, very early on
that I was different.
But I knew fairly early on that people like me.
But it's funny, and here's a big sentence,
it's because I knew I liked them first.
I believe the way I encounter, for the first time a stranger,
what I feel in my heart and soul
is a deeper energy of love
than most people when they encounter
their relatives they like.
Your eyes started tearing up.
Your eyes just started tearing up right now.
You got goosebumps all up and down.
My father is incredibly honorable.
Incredibly, word is bond.
My dad thinks a slight embellishment,
Jane, is like the great lie of a lifetime.
So when I started working
in my dad's liquor store at 14,
He's scared the shit out of me on that.
This means I'm saying something that's the most honest thing I could say.
And my goosebumps go, that's how real it is.
Gary is a serial entrepreneur and serves as the chairman of VaynerX,
the CEO of VaynerMedia,
and the CEO and creator of the entertainment and collectibles company,
The Friends.
Gary is considered one of the leading global minds on what's next in culture,
business, and the internet.
He was an early investor in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo.
Snapchat, Coinbase, and Uber. He's a six-time New York Times best-selling author and documents
his daily life as a CEO through his social media channels, which have more than 45 million
followers. His podcast, The Gary V. Audio Experience, ranks amongst the top podcasts globally.
He's a newlywed to his wife, Mona, a dad of two, and he's the person millions of people
look to daily, and he's taken time out of his busy schedule. He's flown here. He's in person
on the podcast just for you today from advice on mindset and how to succeed on social media
with AI in entrepreneurship and how to know exactly what's coming next and what to do
about it in a world of technology and AI that's changing by the second.
I am so excited for this conversation and whether today you're listening for yourself or
because someone that you love shared this episode with you.
I want to welcome you to the Jamie Kernelima Show podcast family.
Thank you so much for being here.
And can you take two seconds right now
and just hit the subscribe or follow button
on the app that you're listening or watching on?
Thank you so much.
It truly means so much to me.
You can also get your inspiration
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You can join my newsletter community
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Also, this incredible podcast to episode today,
it's not just for you and me.
Please share this with every single person you know
who might need some inspiration
today or perhaps a boost in their self-belief because what you can hear today can truly impact
mine, yours, and their lives too. Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima show. Oprah, how have you
defied the odds? Her show is unlike any I've ever done. A revelation. When you listen, it feels
like a hug, but your brain and your spirit and your heart is like, wow. Melinda French
Gates.
into Jamie's eyes, I feel like I am on some other cosmic level with her. I could see the light
around her. She's infused with light. Imagine overcoming self-doubt, learning to believe in
yourself and trust yourself and know you are enough. Welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lima show.
Jamie Kern-Lima is her name. Everybody needs Jamie Kron-Lima in their life. Jamie Kern-Lima.
Jamie, you're so inspiring.
Jamie Kern Lima!
Gary Vee, welcome to the Jamie Kern-Lima show.
Jane, thank you so much.
That's such a sweet intro.
I'm really, really genuinely excited to be here.
I'm so excited you're here.
First time on the show.
Yes, thank you for having me, really.
First time on the show.
It's really exciting to be here.
Thank you.
I want to just right off the top ask you this
because so many people are impacted by this.
They're afraid to start.
or to make a change, or to go after a dream because they're afraid of judgment or rejection
or they're sort of like frozen by fear of what other people might think.
That's right.
What do you say to them?
That it's the greatest pandemic in our society.
You know, we've created this, I don't know if you've heard this term, imposter syndrome.
Yes.
This is fun to say to you, it is makeup for the word insecure.
the world is insecure period you know this has been a great epiphany of my life i was so
mothered properly i really genuinely and for the people that follow me that are listening right now
that know me they know how often i reference my parents and specifically my mother
i was parented so uncomfortably well the greatest book i'll write and i'm and even though
I've written all these books and have done well.
I've been working slowly but surely
because I want to give it more time
on a book called Perfectly Parented.
Parented.
And it's obviously, you know, of course I wasn't perfectly parented.
There's no such thing or is there such a thing
that's all judgment.
But it gets to the crux of your question.
The world is insecure.
I'm devastated by it.
It has driven my personal brand's content
in hindsight, my whole career.
And what I say is one of my great fascinations in society is that I think we've over glamorized youth and we've dramatically undervalued wisdom and the elderly in the last 40 years.
There's been a huge shift.
For the history of time, I'm talking cave men and women, the elder was put on a pedestal.
And that was all the way until recent times.
And as you know, because of technology,
we're more likely to make fun of our grandmother
for not knowing how to use TikTok
than we are to sit next to her
and extract her wisdom.
And we now overvalued 20-year-olds
for their knowledge of technology
or fashion or what's cool.
And that's okay.
I love that.
I sit here with a ball cap.
I'm 49 years old.
I love being youthful.
There's a lot of beauty
in the fact that our society's become more youthful.
I love that the golden girls looked one way,
and the sex in the city girls look the different way.
There's a lot of greatness to that,
but there's also consequences.
And I feel like we as a society
have dramatically underestimated
the elder wisdom, and I implore
everyone here to spend
more time with a 70, 80, and 90-year-old
that is not a relative
because it will be highly valuable to their life.
And that little rant about the elderly
gets me to my point,
which is,
we have gotten to a place
where we have things out of whack.
and if you speak to a 90-year-old,
that is not your grandfather or grandmother.
What I promise you, Jamie, you will see
is that regret is the great thing we should fear.
And if you do not chase your dream
or you jump into the water,
if you don't go for it,
all because you're scared
to what your spouse,
your siblings, your parents,
your neighbors, your friends,
or worst of all,
a random person on the internet
that leaves a comment on the post,
Think about you.
You will wake up at 70, 80, 90, 100,
and you will regret the way you lived your only life.
I don't know if you know this, James,
we were not, you and I and everybody listening,
we were not born for a very long time
in the history of the world,
and we will be dead, and we will be dead forever.
So we have this little sliver,
and to not squeeze this little orange of life
for every ounce of juice that it has
is devastating to me based on the fact that you're parenting,
your DNA, and your environment led to you
valuing someone else's opinion
greater than your own opinion about what you want to do.
And so I continue, what do I say?
I say, I'm searching every day of my life
for the words that may make one person
on the other side of this podcast finally jump.
Maybe that little rant did it.
But at the end of the day,
whatever takes, therapy, exercise, reading, hanging out with different friends, cutting out negative
people, cold plunges, massages, hiking, like whatever it takes to get you to jump.
And I will say this, and this should be very encouraging.
Everyone listening here was scared of doing things in her adolescence.
I was scared to kiss a girl.
I was scared.
In fact, I was a real scaredy cat, which is wild.
I was scared to swim.
I swam when I was nine late.
And by the way, on the record,
the only reason I swam is because my sister started swimming.
And there was no way I was going to have my six-year-old sister
start swimming before me.
So I jumped directly in the pool the second I saw her swimming.
And I'm like, we swam at the same.
I couldn't fathom that she started.
She was at first.
I was scared to ride a bike.
I didn't want to skin my knee.
I didn't want to hurt my elbow.
I was scared to kiss a girl.
I was scared a lot.
But I then jumped and I wasn't scared.
And I really believe someone here
quitting a job, breaking up with a bad boyfriend, starting to make content on TikTok.
The thing I'm wildly passionate about these days, we'll get into it later, I'm sure, live
social shopping, which is super cool to say in front of you, given that you're the queen of
that format in a different way.
I just want people to jump because they're going to regret, Jamie, they're going to regret.
The negative of, like, what they're doing now to protect themselves from the micro hurt of judgment
is going to be super trumped by the macro hurt of regret in their later years.
It's so good. That is so good. And I think for a lot of people, it's hard in the moment, or it feels overwhelmed.
Are you scared of anything right now?
Only the health and wellness of my inner circle of family and friends. The only thing I'm scared of.
I can lose every dollar I have. I could be universally disliked by the public, literally,
I'm not crippled at all by that.
I have this, in fact, I have almost like a weird dark fantasy
of like going back to zero.
Like, in fact, it's really weird.
I have to really work through it.
I'm that not scared of it, that I'm almost like weirdly fantasize
and romanticized about going back to the humble beginnings.
Is it because you want to like the victory of building it again?
Or you want none of the pressure that comes with like that.
No, the pressure I love.
Okay.
Like it's why I'm so out there, right?
Yeah.
Carrie V. Me.
I've been one of the most consistent public figures
of the last 20 years, at least on the internet.
The pressure, no, because in fact, I don't feel the pressure.
I live what the rant I just made.
I do not value other, I do not value my mother's opinion about me.
She is my number one North Star.
So why am I going to value some random listener to this podcast?
How did you get to this place?
Because she built me.
It had the DNA.
She has that DNA.
I do believe that I was, I do believe some people are born
with some level of a confidence genetic versus not.
I believe that to be true.
However, I've watched friends and people around me
go from shy or insecure to dramatically more confident.
I've seen it.
So I think you can build it.
So A, I think I was predisposed a little bit.
B, I'm telling you my mother is a master class.
I'm telling you, Jane.
She made me feel remarkable about myself,
self-esteem for days,
but she didn't create delusion or entitlement.
she grounded me she kept me accountable so I didn't she like balanced she was purple in a world of red and blue
right and then finally environment I was born in the Soviet Union I immigrated here when I was three
we were uncomfortably poor I lived most of my childhood as lower middle class to somewhat to middle
even when we got to middle class my mom acted like we were lower middle class or borderline poor
meaning they never bought me anything like toys like it was I remember I got like three
three toys for one holiday season,
and I thought it was like,
I mean, I can't even explain to you what I thought it was like.
It was the year before my brother was born.
I mean, my sister, I think my mom was overcompensating
that holiday season, and like I literally was like,
getting six different toys, three different toys,
instead of one was like, I can't even explain it to you.
Whereas like, you know, where some people like max out
their credit card to give their kids 40 toys.
And I understand why, but I think,
I think environment, I grew up in Jersey,
the 80s, you know, it was, you go outside, your parents are not helicoptering you, you get
into fights, you skin your knee, you, it's rugged out, especially 80s jersey, lower middle
class. Like, I got into fights. I, you know, I learned to be respectful because if you
disrespected somebody, you might get punched in the face. Like, a lot of things we don't grow up
with nowadays behind our computer screens. Everybody's a tough guy on Twitter. Right. You know,
in 1980, Twitter was the cafeteria. And if you said something wrong,
it happened.
Right.
And so, you know, I think the combination of environment, nature, nurture, and here I am.
And in fact, my confidence, I don't think belongs to me.
Like Gary Vee, me, all the accolades I get, I think that's an indication of my parents,
the American Dream, and Jersey.
I think V friends, my businesses, I feel a little bit more of me, you know.
but I think one of the reasons I'm so detached from my personal brand and my awareness slash fame,
whatever you want to call it, or my financial success is I kind of feel like I'm the byproduct of
them, not necessarily on me, if that makes sense.
Also, you know, there are, as you know, hundreds and millions of people online, a lot of
people putting content out there, speaking their soul, doing all the things, even showing up
authentically, and very few people are able to communicate a thought or an idea in a way
that just like people can relate to, stops people, but also that people just connect to,
that they instantly foster trust with, that they want to watch. Do you, you being one of the
best communicators in the world, indisputable by numbers, not an opinion, indisputable by numbers
and by impact, and by the number of people that repost your content.
the number of people that are on your pages, have you, do you feel that you have a calling or like
an anointing that was predetermined on your life to be an impactful communicator? Is it something
you studied obsessively with? Because it's different than, I'm guessing, all the people you were
raised around, all the people that you give credit to so much for. I believe that I did not grow up
thinking anyone on earth would know me. You know, I made my first piece of context.
when I was 30 years old and it was a wine video that I was trying to use to build up my wine business and it wasn't until 34 that I started to make the kind of content that I'm now known for
So I didn't you know I didn't know who Tony Robbins was. I didn't know like I didn't know that game of personalities or I didn't know what a motivational speech was
So so I didn't study anything. I didn't know anything on the other side I think that I think that I
I think that I was very aware, very early on, that I was different.
That I could say.
You know, I remember consciously deciding school didn't mean anything in fourth grade.
In 1986, when not going to college meant you were the lowest of low.
And I had the confidence to follow my calling, which at the time,
the time I called being a businessman, it's now known as entrepreneurship, right? I knew that I was,
I didn't know the word charismatic, but I, you know, I was the president of our school in fifth
grade. And even before that, I knew that humans gravitated towards me. Every kid in my
neighborhood, even leaving their parents, I didn't know what charisma was. I didn't know what being
dynamic was but I knew fairly early on that people like me but it's funny and here's a big
sentence it's because I knew I liked them first it's really wild how much I love people and I
mean the general public like I wish everyone on this podcast could see in like visuals with words or
diagrams or colors, how I feel when I'm walking through an airport, I wish people knew how I feel
about your two guys right now behind the camera. I'm being dead serious. When I said, hey, guys to
them, I wish, I don't know if you're seeing my goosebumps here. I do. I wish people knew how
I felt when I encounter a stranger. I believe what I'm about to say, I've never said this publicly,
So it's fun to give you the exclusive.
We need to pause for a super brief break.
While we do, take a moment and share this episode with every single person that you know who this could inspire.
Because this conversation can truly be the words and inspiration that they need to hear today to keep going, to remember they matter,
to feel less alone, more enough, more connected, and more worthy.
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And now more of this incredible conversation together.
It's really wild how much I love people.
And I mean the general public.
Like, I wish everyone on this podcast could see in like visuals with words or diagrams or colors.
How I feel when I'm walking through an airport, look, I wish people knew how I feel about your two guys right now behind the camera.
I'm being dead serious when I said hey guys to them I wish I'm I don't know if you're seeing my goosebumps here I do I wish people knew how I felt when I encounter a stranger
I believe what I'm about to say I've never said this publicly it's just fun to give you the exclusive I believe the way I encounter for the first time a stranger what I feel in my heart and soul is a deeper energy of love than most people when they encounter
their relatives they like.
So I think I always knew that.
And then I think the serendipity of how the world worked.
I'll give you an example.
If I was 30 years older,
I would have never been known
because I would have never left my family in New Jersey
to go to Hollywood to be found.
The internet just happened to come along
at the right time.
The maturity of the internet
to be in the social media era
came at the right time.
And I just happened to be
at the right place
and I understood what was happening
and I had the, you know,
I believe that many people build audiences
for many reasons.
I believe I've built the audience I've built
because I think I outlove my community,
my audience,
in comparison to almost anybody else
producing content in the world.
I really believe that.
And I don't think I'm better then,
and I'm sure there's others
that feel exactly the way I do
towards strangers and acquaintances,
but I'm in the fucking mix
at the top of
I've never made a piece of content
where my brain did not go into
what's in it for them.
I believe one of the reasons
most of the people listening right now
do not build the audience
they're hoping to build
is they spend all of their time
thinking about
is this going to get me likes
is this going to get me followers
is this going to get me money
when I make content
I mean we talked before camera
I'm like I want to be on this show
because I know I'm the right voice
for three of the people
on this podcast listening right now
that I've never heard of me,
I always think about them.
I then know, listen,
I'm not some saint or angel.
I'm aware that if I'm bringing value
that may lead to opportunity for me
and the things that I want for myself,
emotionally, financially.
But I only know how to start
with what's in it for them.
In fact, I'm in a point in my life
where I'm trying to be more balanced
of selfish and selfless behavior,
because I think I go into superhero syndrome too much.
And that's something I'm thinking through in my life professionally, personally, and just in general.
But never with my audience.
I think I've got the right framework.
When you said if people understood what you are thinking and how much love you have when you meet a stranger,
your eyes started tearing up.
Your eyes started tearing up right now.
You got goosebumps all up and down.
Where do you think that comes from?
Just a very fortunate, back to the earlier question,
I genuinely think I was genetically predisposed for it,
and then I think I was molded by it.
I view as though I was the really remarkable ingredients of love,
and then I had the best chef cook me.
I think between who I was and the mother I had,
I think I was the best, I think that's the best analogy I can use.
I think for loving strangers,
I think I was all the perfect ingredients,
the best carrots, the best meat, the best chicken, the best sauce.
And then I had the best chef in the world, cook my ingredients, and then here I am.
You talk about your dream of wanting to buy the jets and your mom's role in that.
Can you share?
Yeah, I think, you know, everyone, this is pretty deep.
There's a very detailed video at the top of my Instagram.
It's Gary V-E-E, if you want to get a little more color on this.
very simply, back to selfish once.
I have this great dream always have had it since fourth or fifth grade.
Around the time I decided school didn't matter that I would.
That was probably also the time I realized I couldn't play for the Jets.
I was pretty good.
I have very good hand-eye coordination.
So in first, second, third grade, I was a really good athlete
and better than all the kids in school and baseball and things that nature.
And then around fourth and fifth and sixth grade,
I was like, wait a minute, what's this strength, speed, and athleticism part?
And I was like, uh-oh, I'm not going to.
going to be a football player. And I probably, at that point, I was already doing very well with
lemonade stands and shoveling snow. And then by six rate, I was making a lot of money selling
trading cards. And I kind of pivoted to, okay, I can't play for the Jets. I'm going to own the Jets.
And so I had this great dream. And that's always been there. And then the part that you're
referencing, when I was seven and fell in love with the Jets, a lot of the boys in the neighborhood
had a Jets jersey. And I wanted one. And I asked my mom, can I get a Jets?
Jersey because we played a lot of backyard football and everybody had a Jets
jersey and I had a t-shirt and I wanted to be in a mix and I wanted I love the Jets
now and I want a Jets jersey well for all the immigrants listening when you're
a couple years into America and you're not very you have really no money buying a
$20 at the time Jets Jersey was not on the in the cards you know everything was
for food and shelter even clothes like my dad worked at a liquor store and like I
literally wore liquor t-shirts my whole life you know like we did not buy clothes for at least t-shirts um
and so at night for the next several weeks because my mom was an immigrant mom cooked cleaned like
waited for her husband to come home at 10 p.m. cooked for him like her day was 7 a.m. to midnight
cook clean parent like real hard work um and then
after all that at night, she would, she knitted me a jet sweater.
I don't know if you know this, if you've seen in my content, I put up the number five a lot.
I do this a lot.
And the reason I do that is that jet jersey that she needed me had the number five on it,
because already it was my favorite number.
And when I knew seven or ten years ago, I'm like, oh man, I'm going to take a lot of pictures
for the rest of my life.
Like, I kind of tipped where I knew I was going to be known, and I knew we were in the pictures
Zira with phones. And I remember thinking, like, huh, I'm going to probably take millions of photos
for the rest of my life with people. I'm like, I wanted to be meaningful. And I started to throw up
the five as a little head nod to my mom, you know. And so, yes, she made me that jersey. It had
the number five on it. I wore it every day. And now it is in a literally fireproof safety deposit
box so that when I buy the New York Jets, I'm going to hang that jersey. I'm going to build a
stadium, potentially in Queens, because that's where the Jets fans want the Jets back.
It's funny, when we immigrated to America, I lived in Queens for two years, and then we moved
to Jersey. And the big thing among Jets fans is they play in New Jersey. I don't know if you
know this. It MetLife Stadium where the Jets and Giants play. They play in New Jersey, even though
both New York, but they originally played in Queens. And I always think, like, when I buy
then will I keep them in Jersey since I'm such a jersey boy, or do I bring them to Queens
because a lot of the diehards want that.
And when I first came to America, that's where, you know, it's very romantic for me.
Anyway, the other thing that's romantic to me is when I build my own stadium, I'm going to put
that Jets jersey right in the front of the main entrance for everyone to see, and it's going to have
a little plaque, and it's going to say, from not being able to own a $20 Jets jersey
to eventually owning the entire team, all of you can do it too.
So I think about that a lot.
How has your mom responded to that?
You know, I think at this point in my life, it's very clear to me that it is shocking how much I do strictly for the opportunity to make my parents proud.
And my mom is like my best friend, you know, everything I've accomplished is because of her 100%.
Like, it is so not lost to me.
And by the way, before my dad sends me this clip
and yells at me and complains,
I'm also very fortunate.
I think there was a couple pieces
that my mom could not instill in me.
My dad is much more competitive than my mom.
Huge factor in my career and my personality.
And the other thing, my mom is gift of gab,
and so am I, which means a little embellishment,
a little, you know, my father is incredibly honorable,
incredibly word is bond.
My dad thinks a slight embellishment.
embellishment, Jame, is like the great lie of a lifetime.
So when I started working in my dad's liquor store at 14,
he scared the shit out of me on that.
I remember one time I told him, I had a big day of selling a wine.
He wanted me to sell.
And on the way home, we were driving, and he said,
how'd you do with the wine?
I was like, Dad, I sold 20 cases of the wine.
I sold a ton.
And then that was Saturday.
And then a Monday when he came back from work,
I was in school.
I was a kid.
when he came back home for dinner that night
he got really mad at me and he's like
you sold 17.3 cases
of that wine
and like really made it like a deal
like this is a problem
I was like what are we talking about here
17 20 same shit
and over I would say from 14 to 18
my dad
instilled in me honor
and truth and sucked out of me
embellishment and borderline bullshit
and I believe that
that has had a profound impact on who I am
and how I'm perceived and who I became as a public figure.
I think a lot of people when they first encounter
my energy and my style are like,
wait a minute, I don't know when you first thought.
I'm very aware that when you're this hyper,
you know, I'm pretty chill right now in this interview
by comparison.
Like I'm pretty high energy.
I'm selling my beliefs.
Sometimes I'm selling my collectibles or my wine.
You know, I'm empathetic to some people.
being like eh what's up with this guy and I always think about this I'm always like
man you know a lot of people go on the journey with me of like eh I don't know
about this guy to like I really like this guy and a lot of times I think like man
that's all my dad because if I wasn't as like if I wasn't as true and I was
the bizarre you know the Superman there's like Superman bizarre Superman like the
bad if I was if I was the bad version of Gary V that some either start
believing or even some people are very cynical think that I am
I wonder if I could have been that if I didn't have my father in my life.
You know, I wonder if with a different father, if my dad was a sheister.
And at 14, I started working for him and I already had all this gift of gab and charisma.
Would have I gone down a path of being a sheister instead of something I'm incredibly proud of?
Very grateful for my parents.
Does it bother you and you sense someone else is embellishing or lying?
Not real.
You know, this is going to be a fun part of the podcast.
It's funny how quickly I jumped from, like,
answering you not really to where I want to go with this.
Not at all.
And let me explain where I'm going.
I actually, I actually am incredibly empathetic,
sympathetic, and compassionate to people that do wrong things.
I actually struggle with judgment and anger
to things that people do that are really not great,
let alone something like a white lie or an abel.
Like, I struggle with judgment, James.
When I see someone doing something wrong,
like I'll give you just like, let me give you a very simple example
that happened yesterday in L.A.
Somebody like cut off someone on the street,
and I watched someone like massively yelling at that,
like they're just so angry.
And I was just thinking about both of them.
I was like, both the person that did the thing,
like where are they coming from on that?
Are they impatient?
Do they have a problem?
Like, what are they doing?
And then the person that like,
do you know how many times I've been cut off?
I lived in Jersey.
Like a million.
I would never like go crazy and like road rage.
To go there,
you're not in a good place overall.
So I think in general in life,
when I see someone do something wrong,
even like bad stuff,
my brain goes to like, why are they hurting?
What's going on?
And I'm talking about even when people are really bad to me,
when people have stolen for me,
when people have done very bad things to me,
when people that I've helped financially and emotionally,
do horrible things behind my back, it's crazy how little energy or time I spend on the normal
reaction. I default pretty quickly into, man, I'm so, A, I'm so grateful that I'm not in that
place mentally and emotionally. And B, I hope they'll get better. I hope, you know.
Have you had a lot of people betray you? Sure. Yeah. It's life. I'm so out there. I've run
businesses my whole life. One of my, one of my dear friends and my dad,
liquor store that I took from being a kid that, you know, was a high school dropout, I think,
or maybe graduated high school.
Like, basically he took from, like, at the time, whatever minimum wages was in Jersey,
$9, $10 an hour, to all the way to, like, the head of our shipping department.
Like, a real job that he built his whole family on, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars
of inventory from my dad on finding a very smart kid, like found a very unique loophole that
allowed him to like ship things to himself and sell it in the black market like just like
unbelievable layer of betrayal my dad actually I think this the first time ever told the story
mainly because if my dad listens to this he's going to go into a five-week depression about it
he's that hurt still and angry I forgave the kid on on the moment we understood and by the way years
later I found out like he hurt his back and then he started taking back pain medicine and you know like
This is where my brain goes.
I knew he wouldn't do that in his soul,
but a series of events led him to do that.
I believe most humans in their soul are not looking to do bad.
But things happen, and I think what's happening in our world now
is a lot of people are selling fear and hate.
And I think a lot of people are not strong enough to see through it.
I think a lot of people go down paths they don't need to.
And then I also think that people struggle with accountability.
When bad things happen to me, I view them as my fault.
I don't even view them as betrayal.
I view them as like, what could I have seen to not let this happen?
And then I quickly go into like, and then maybe, it's so crazy, this goes back to love.
Oh, I could have helped him see it a different way earlier.
Not, oh, I wish I fired this person earlier so this never happened.
Oh, crap, if I knew he was going down this path, I could have stopped him from ever getting to the thing that would have been fireable.
which is the polar opposite of a victim mentality.
I'm just fascinated listening to you, share all this
because, you know, the idea that success leaves clues
and you have this just abundant capacity
to do so many things, to give so many,
you know, to give so much, to impact so much.
And I'm listening, and I just want to call this out
for everyone listening right now,
because what you're sharing is you don't let things,
even when people betray you or hurt you or go against you
or you don't let that take up your capacity
by staying in a place of resentment.
You quickly go to, how could I have helped them?
You go to a place of love.
It's fascinating.
I just am imagining how much of your capacity is freed up.
Wow, what an observation.
I believe the reason I can do nine million things,
and I do nine million things,
is that I do not have the ability to dwell.
I believe almost everyone listening right now
is not winning
because they're spending all their time looking backwards.
I believe a sentence that starts with
I should have is the beginning of a very bad sentence.
I love learning from my mistakes.
In fact, it's probably one of my great strengths,
contextualizing everything that's ever happened in my life
to make better decisions tomorrow.
But to your point, if you want to go down that path, it is, I am confident when I deliver this sentence.
My dream about heaven is it tells you everything.
When I get to heaven, one of the 21st things I'm going to do is during my time on earth,
where did I rank amongst 8 billion people in the ability to not dwell?
I'm pretty confident I'm in the top 10,000.
I just don't have it in me.
Which gets to the biggest point of all.
You can't be scared.
You do not have fear when you are not scared to lose.
I love losing, James.
It's so crazy how much I like losing.
Think about what I said earlier.
I dream about losing everything.
That's how much I, I mean, again, here it is.
By the way, this has been a huge factor in my life.
The fact that everything great or everything I'm worried about comes up in goosebumps, like naturally.
Yeah.
This is how in tune I am with myself.
Like, I always know this means I'm saying something
that's the most honest thing I could say.
Literally, I'm talking about losing everything
and my goosebumps go, that's how real it is.
You think I'm going to be scared about a micro loss?
You think I'm worried about Johnny Pants 49
leaving a comment that you suck, Gary B?
Like, you think I'm scared of a business going to zero?
You think I'm scared of any,
I'm not scared of anything in a world
where I'm willing to lose everything
and do it again?
It makes you unstoppable.
Do you think, you know, you mentioned heaven, do you believe in heaven?
I do.
Predominantly through this dream I've made up for myself of what heaven is.
I literally think heaven is this super AI computer that can tell you everything about your life
and you just chill up there and play scenarios.
Like one of the things I can't wait to ask the heaven's supercomputer is show me the moment
I was closest to dying besides the time I actually died.
And I always think it's like this weird thing.
of like had I like not forgotten my keys,
you know the butterfly, but like if I had not forgotten my keys
or if I didn't meet this person, I would have met this person
and we would have been here and I would have fell off a cliff
or I don't know, or I would have eaten this banana
and that banana would have triggered a gene in my body.
Like I'm so fascinated about that, I don't know why.
I would have asked about like showing me my alternatives in life
if I didn't move here, if I stayed here,
if my dad did this or if my, I love the what ifs.
One of the reasons I'm a successful entrepreneur,
you know, it was even weird.
Obviously, many people, when they read my intro talk about the things I invested in.
I don't know if it's the energy we're in right now, but it was, I mean, I've heard it 500,000
times, but I was micro-reflective for a second when you were reading that.
I'm like, man, I really did invest in those companies before people knew.
And I'm like, I think the reason that happened, and the reason I'm talking about heaven,
the way I'm talking about it now, is I think my superpower, which is very disguised,
and I'm curious, because you know enough about me to see, I'm curious how this is going to land on you,
I actually think one of my core superpowers is curiosity.
I'm inherently curious.
I hate I should have, but I love what is.
What?
I love that.
And I think it sends me down.
I'll give you an example.
Do you know what I use chat GPT for?
What?
On the flight out here from New York, I spent an hour and a half prompt engineering questions
about why Laboooooo happened.
I bet you did.
Yeah.
You know, with me, with collectibles and pop culture and marketing.
Like, I'm wildly curious.
It helps me see around corners.
It makes me a fun dinner date.
It makes me a great entrepreneur.
I wish more people were into it.
And in fact, V-Friends, and I'm sure we might touch on it,
is really the great extension of me, the person.
I know that I'm not everyone's cup of tea.
I do not believe I can impact all 8 billion people.
But I believe my character's, patient panda,
you know, ambitious angel,
Curious Crane
You can see where I'm about to go now
If I can make Curious Crane famous
If I can make
You know cartoons and comic books
If some of the people listening now
When they have grandchildren one day in 30, 40 years
If those kids are wearing curious crane pajamas
I can elevate the word curious to the youth
The word patience
The word accountable
Which is really missing right now
and that's why I have accountable ant empathy elephant if I can elevate those words because I can get to people earlier in their journey youth or it might be a character that I Gary V am not the right personal brand for someone but I can get them to get into accountability through the videos or the cartoons of these characters the hello kitty of it all then I can leave a bigger impact and I think Curious Crane is one of my favorite V friends because it's getting more obvious to me as I
get into my middle era, that curiosity is a superpower of mine.
Do you have two kids? Do you want more kids?
Yeah, I'm definitely, you know, look, my great-grandmother said,
I grew up with her, you know, in Russia, in the old country,
everybody had kids at 20. Yeah.
She basically used to say this Yiddish word, lost language,
basically translates to kids are the ultimate happiness in the world.
So for sure.
You do. I haven't shared this yet, but we're expecting our third.
Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Congrats. And I want more. And, you know, I'm about to turn. I turned 48, you know, this year. So it's like, I agree. And I actually love having them later also because I feel like, you know, it's just a different perspective. You know, I've been fortunate in my business career to spend a lot of time with 70 and 80 year old, back to the thing I was talking about earlier. Yeah. I'm as likely to hang with an 80-year-old business. I'm as likely to hang with an 80-year-old business.
person as I am an 18 year old business person and I do a lot in fact I do a lot of both I would argue
I spend a lot of time with 18 year old entrepreneurs about IRL streaming and AI and then 80 year old
real estate and like you know those kind of characters yeah you know it's wild I was I was in
Copenhagen last week at a table in a restaurant yes and there's a couple next to me in their 80s
yes and the guy's phone goes off and he's doing audio prompts to chat GPT yeah he's in his 80s
and I'm like the whole world is changing so fast I'm 100%
So much to ask you about Vee friends, about AI, about social media, about chat GPT, about
all of it, about AGI, all of it.
This conversation with Gary Vee is so incredible.
We made it into more than one part.
And if you've ever felt uncertain about the future with AI, social media, and the rapid pace
of digital growth, if you've wondered, will I even have a job in a few years?
Will AI replace all of us?
Does college still matter?
What should I tell my partner, my friends, my kids are great?
grandkids to do so that they have a bright future. If you have these questions, you are not
going to want to miss this incredible part two of our conversation with Gary Vaynerchuk
coming up in the next episode of the Jamie Kern-Lima show. Remember this episode's not just for you
and me. Please share it with every single person that you know because it can truly impact and
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Share it with others online or in your community who just might need the words and tools and lessons in this episode.
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And thank you so much for joining me today. Before you go, I want to share some words with you
that couldn't be more true. You right now, exactly as you are, are enough and fully worthy.
You're worthy of your greatest hopes, of your wildest dreams, and of all the unconditional
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Achieve your hopes and dreams by believing you are worthy of them and so much more. Are you ready
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Imagine a life with zero self-doubt and unshakable self-worth.
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