The School of Greatness - 41 Gary Vaynerchuk: Inside the Mind of Entrepreneurial Greatness

Episode Date: December 2, 2013

If you've every wanted to crush it in business and life then this episode is for you. Our next guest on The School of Greatness was a local legend at 12 years old by making thousands on weekends from selling baseball cards at a local mall and later took his fathers company from $3 million to a $45 million business with his online marketing savvy. He's written two New York Times bestselling books and his most recent book is all about how to tell your unique story in a social world. Although he may never beat me in ping pong or a basketball game (ha ha), he's one tough competitor to chase in business, so please welcome my friend, Gary Vaynerchuk.

This is episode number 41 with Gary Vaynerchuk. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. What is up, Grace?

Thanks so much for tuning in today. And I'm very excited about today's guest because we've got the one and only Gary Vaynerchuk on today's episode. And I'm very excited because I got to dive into asking some questions that I don't feel like Gary's ever answered before. You know, he talks a ton about social media and building businesses and entrepreneurship. And he's written a couple of New York Times bestselling books. And he's got another book out right now that's going to be on the New York Times list. But I actually go deep into his mind, into his purpose, into his vision, his dreams, his fears, and really tap into what makes him tick and what inspires him to be such a successful entrepreneur and really change the

world with his message. So I'm excited to share that with you and let him really speak into that here in just a minute. And with that, guys, this again is going to be an awesome episode. Really tune in and listen and open your heart when you listen to what Gary's going to be talking about, because he really shares some inspiring things about what he's done to be so successful and what his vision is for the world. So I want you guys to tap into this, really tune in and take it all in. And I'll see you guys on the other side. What is up, everyone? Thanks again for tuning into the School of Greatness. Got my good friend Gary Vaynerchuk in with me. How's it going, Gary? I'm doing great, brother.

How are you? I'm doing fantastic. Super pumped about having you on because you have a huge announcement for this week. Well, you've actually announced it probably about a year ago, but it's coming out this week, and that's your book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. And I'm very excited about this because right when you announced the name before the pre-name, which was like seven jabs and a right hook,

I knew exactly what it was all about. And I said, yes, I'm glad you're writing a book about this because this is kind of how I've lived my life for the last five years since I got started in business, which is all about giving, giving, giving, giving, giving, and then asking.

And why do you want to write about this book? You know, it's funny, and I'm as well, and I kind of covered it with Thank You Economy. But what I wanted to do was specifically talk about content. And that's really, I mean, look, your podcast now has become that, right? On a highest level, how we all live and roll. Listen, for all the people that are listening, the far majority of people that have become successful, and I mean the far majority, especially if any of it was dedicated to or predicated on them dealing with people, meaning outside of people that sat in a dark room and coded and built this incredible product, anybody who's been in a world that was completely predicated on people

has had to live this jab, jab, jab, right hook notion. They're, you know, the best people that we love in the world who maybe have not been successful in business. They live in the jab, jab, jab, jab world, right? And then the people, and that's something I haven't said before. So I kind of felt good. I'm going to use that again. And then, and then the people that seem to have like tried and maybe had a few moments of success, well, they lived in the right hook, right hook, right hook, right hook

mode. Right. And so the, the balances of jabbing and right hooking matter so much in life. What I focused on in this book was that, you know, Lewis, you're friends with AJ and I, we started VaynerMedia four years ago, the last two years, it's exploded. We've got from 25 to 300 people. And we focus on the content that is put out on social networks, right? To me, for example, Lewis, you do this podcast, how you bring awareness to people to watch this show, You do this podcast. How you bring awareness to people to watch this show, you use some of your social channels. Now, you, like many other people, and when I mean many, I mean 99%, you oftentimes, and probably even with this one, because you're busy, because you don't have designers and all this infrastructure around you, you're going to tweet out, hey, finally had my boy at Gary Vee on the podcast link, right? Right. What I know is that if you took the extra seven minutes or you took the extra financial

investment into a designer or whatever it may be, and you actually made a Twitter card, which is basically a picture, an image of me and maybe you, maybe from back in the day, because maybe there's some pictures out there of you dominating me in ping pong or basketball or a set of conference or you photoshopped it together. And you took one of the quotes, maybe the one that I might not have a better one in this, which is the people that we love but aren't successful in business are in the jab, jab, jab, jab, jab business. If you put that quote over our faces and then linked and then wrote the copy that I just talked about, you're going to get 800% more engagement and drive more traffic to your podcast. So I went deep as shit on this one to the technical, nuanced, sweet science of social media. Hence why I went with the boxing metaphor known as the sweet science. I love it.

Well, I will be having a designer do that. So I'll get. But listen, let me jump in here because I want to bring value to your audience. Then there's what's the infographic for Pinterest, right? And you've got to know that that's a female demo. So you have to think about that. What's the animated GIF that you put for Tumblr, right?

Taking maybe a funny moment from one of my keynotes, but then putting one of your own quotes from this interview and then linking to the iTunes podcast download, right? What's the Facebook status update? And then what time do you post it? Because Tumblr, younger, can you post it later? And it goes on and on and on and on. And that's why I decided to do 86 case studies for the people that are listening. And I feel like you and I have some nice crossover for the 30 to 40% of people listening that know who I am and have read Crush It or Thank You Economy.

I went with a totally different direction here. This is a textbook. So lots of case studies, lots of examples. 86. Amazing, amazing. And what's your favorite medium right now then? I know I'm using Instagram a lot. I love that.

But what's your favorite in terms of getting the word out and expressing the jab, jab, jab, right hook? For me, the number one social network in the world is Twitter. I still think it's the only true social. Still. Wow. Here's why. Because it's the only true social network it's the only place that when i let's use the you know let's use the hashtag lewis and gary for this interview right

so i've created that now because now i'll be able to find 2018 800 i have no idea how many people decide to jump in and use it and say hey good podcast guys but i can now jump in and say thank you and they'll see that and then you know and not every time because Twitter is a fire hose, but it creates an actual relationship. Everything else is a content push. I mean, Instagram is like newspaper and magazine advertising. You can put an awesome photo, people can reply and you can jump into the, you know, replies and engage with them, but it doesn't continue the conversation, right? Even if you did great community management, Lewis, on your picture and jumped in and said, thanks,

Craig. Thanks, Sally. Thanks, Susan. You know, people aren't in a place where they go back to that and then keep it going. And so I love the cocktail party. I love actually engaging and Twitter allows me to do that. That being said, I think Instagram is the single most important social network right now because it's growing. There's a science to actually doing the pictures. I'm a big believer in it. I'm a big fan of it. It's very, very important.

And I covered all the ones that I think most people should be paying attention to this book. I gave case studies for five of them, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram. And then I covered Vine, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Google plus in it. I love it. I love it. Now I know you cover a lot of this in your book and I'm going to advise everyone to go out and buy it and I'll give them all the information at the end of this. But for an entrepreneur who's got a great idea, maybe probably a couple of years after college, got a great idea, really wants to grow his business online,

struggling, having trouble building an audience, doesn't have a lot of money to really put into the design that you're talking about, uh, and all these different, uh, you know,

infographics and cards and things like that. What's something that they can do a lot, you know, I'm assuming a lot of it's going to be hustle, but what's something they can do to kind of like have a successful, just a nice business and get by, uh, with something that's worth talking about.

What's something they can do kind of like a crash course. And you're taking a step out and not going as detailed for jab, jab, jab, right. But going into crush it mantra or, you know, knowing your audience.

So I'll go there. jab, right hook, but going into crush it mantra or, you know, knowing your audience. So I'll go there. You know, I think the first step, to be honest with you, Lewis, is really knowing oneself, right? I met you a long time ago and in Ohio, maybe, or driving around or St. Louis, right? Driving around, right? And we spent some time together. And, you know, it was just very obvious to me. And I think you had good self-awareness about this, that you were a likable, good guy and you had good people skills. And that was your advantage, you know, and that was something that was going to help you. Not super different than me. You're just a little bit better looking. think about is what's their strength. You know, listen, one of the reasons I always talk about hustle is I'm going to say it right now. I'm not scared. I just, I'm, I'm just not scared to say this. I don't think anybody can outwork me. It's just, it just hasn't happened yet. You know, like I just don't see that person, you know, and so you could tie me, but you know, I just don't think, you know, and so I've gone all in on that, right? I've taken my work ethic, my natural lack of need to drink or eat in any 18 hour period.

And I've used that to my advantage. And so I would tell anybody, listen, now do two things, do two very important things. One, really think about what you're great at. And if you can't figure it out, ask people around you what they think you're good at. And number two, surround yourself with other winning players. The number one thing, if you're struggling, and if you're not grounded to a certain place, meaning you don't have school, or you don't have to support your parents, or you don't have a child to support, or you're not so infatuatedly in love that you can't move. I would literally pick up and move and email the 25 mentors or crews of people that you respect and try to get down there, up there, left to there, right to there.

Surrounding yourself with other winning players is a huge play. Listen, I pay attention to everything. I think that was one of your successful moves, Lewis. I think you went out of your way to surround yourself with other people. You, seeing me in my crutch at days as I was popping, you recognized there was something there. It takes a talent to understand who's good, who's not. And then you offered to help me get people to my St. Louis book signing. You had peeps there.

You drove me around to, in essence, overall jack to basically drive and create a relationship we met you know then at summit see we see each other to vote we play some sports against each other again most of you've seen lewis versus me he's won most of those but we start building a relationship right we start building a relationship and you know i've always been there for you if i could be a help and that just becomes the game right Right. And so I, from taking it again, I wrote the social media 301 book. That's what this is. Like, if you have no interest in nerding it out and being the best at content on the internet, the book's not for you. If you're looking for an overall thesis of, so of a business that was more crush it. It was more, thank you.

Economy. This answer is more of that overall thing. But I know the two things that I just said right now would help an obnoxious amount of the percentage of the people that listening to this right now. And I hope one or two, again, I'm about to say this, I hope one or two of them take me up on that and decide to do that. Because the truth is, it's only going to be one or two. Every one of my assistants, Phil Toronto, now Nate, who's the CEO of the book, you've watched this, Lewis, as a friend. My assistants go on for big careers. They take less money. They have other opportunities, but they want to be around me, and that becomes their opportunity.

They get that mentorship. You can do it that way, or you can get into a crew and surround yourself with those kind of people. Who did you hang out with when you were kind of getting started in your, I guess, well, you're getting started earlier on, but kind of in your major, like I'm a little bit, yeah, I'm a little bit of a different dude. Right. I mean, at 25 already had $30 million wine business. I mean, I started at 40. I am a raw entrepreneur. So I was doing this at 12. I mean, truly. And you know that, I mean, I was really doing this, right.

I was doing this at 12, 13, 14, instead of like trying to hook up with chicks. I was finding like, I was trying, I was finding nerds in high school that were business people and selling baseball cards in malls. You know, like I was, I did this a long time ago, but it was still the truth. You know, I found my tribe, my crew and I, and I, you know, I gave up things and everybody has to give up things if you want to achieve certain things. And so that's not my story. On the flip side, I've had this virtual crew because it's one of the things I've tried to do.

And it's one of the things I'm proud of. I think I've done a much better job engaging and bringing value to people on Twitter than a lot of my contemporaries. So who were the people you were hanging out with when kind of like the online world, when you saw the online world of making money online was a huge opportunity? What were the people that you surrounded yourself with? The person that most I focused on, and there's two people I think that are mainly influential.

One was Eric Kastner, who's my lead developer at Wine Library. He was just, you know, he's a developer. He's not a business money-making guy, anything but. He's actually anti that. He's romantic at Wine Library. He's a developer. He's not a business money-making guy, anything but. He's actually anti that. He's romantic at some levels. But he was very smart about the internet. He was teaching me about these thought leaders. I never went down an internet marketing route. I was already a marketer. I went down a different route. I need to learn the technology. I didn't need the marketing stuff. That was in my blood so the other guy was kevin rose probably you know dig.com was like the darling site of 2006 i saw a lot of me and him and him and me he was hustling

he was charismatic he was he was a good communicator he had the you know he had the video blog dig nation which is one of the only 10 to 20 video blogs that existed before Wine Library TV. And so I would say those two people. And who's your mentor now? I mean, I've never, you know, this is, this is when I give this answer, I hope everybody listens and understands. This is me outwardly admitting to a weakness. I don't have one.

And, and I have one in my mom and dad, but'm very insular you know lewis one day ask i know you and agent boys to ask aj one day how i roll i'm very like i'm like a cocoon right like i go into my own ball and uh and i'm more into like focusing on what everybody else is doing and using that behavior to dictate my thinking because i'm very old soul so i'm not i don't know i've not so kind of like the world the world is your mentor kind of like you just learn from everyone type of thing in a very big way lewis yeah i feel like and even people that learn from me that i learn from them in the way they've incorporated what i do right i mean i watch all of you guys that have like come out from that school and

there's a lot of things everybody's doing well. Like it's funny. It's like fun for me to watch. Um, but yeah. And it could be like one person that could be, you know, there's going to be seven people. Inevitably I'm going to follow on Twitter from this podcast, right. The ones that use the Lewis and Gary hashtag and, and they're going to be people that have nine followers, 33, 62, a hundred, 5,000. Um, and it won't even be about what they're doing. Cause I rarely, I mean, I don't read anybody's marketing material. I don't consume it.

It's going to be more about what they're reacting to, you know, how they're reacting. I'm looking at, I'm in the psychology business. I'm not in the technology business. What's your biggest fear then? You know, my biggest fear is very like, you know, my biggest fear are real things like the health of my family. When it comes to business, I've got this. I was making thousands of dollars a weekend when I was a kid.

I guess at some level, the fear is I get complacent somewhere along the line. I mean, I don't know. It's going to take a while. I mean, at this point, you know, I mean, you know, I guess I fear that I lose my fire as a competitor. And as an entrepreneur, I fear that as my kids continue to grow, this is a funny thing to say, and this is I'm being real with everybody. There's my kids continue to grow. I'm spending more and more time with my family. And will I just mellow out quote unquote unquote, from the fire in my stomach and create a much healthier work-life balance that takes me out of being an A player? On the flip side, that doesn't scare me because that's great, right?

Like all I want to do is spend more time with my family. So they're really silly things that aren't quite fearful at the end of the day. And so I just want to be better than everybody, Louis. That's the truth, right? Let me say something. I want everybody you know, I just want to be better than everybody, Louis. That's the truth, right? I, you know, let me, let me say something. I want everybody here. Why do you want to be better than everyone? I'm going to explain it right now. Actually, I it's in my DNA, right? Like I want to win. I mean, you see the pain I have when I lose to you in ping pong on that boat. I wanted to kill somebody. I almost jumped off the, the reason I gave that ridiculous speech on that boat was probably because of you.

Here's why. And here's why I think you and a lot of other people like me slash why I want to beat everybody, including you guys. Let me explain. I think there's two ways to win. To build the biggest building in town or to tear everybody else's buildings down. I do number one. There's a lot of people in this space in the marketing world, in the business world who spend a lot of time trying to tear everybody else

down, thus making them look better. Right. Yep. I'm pumped that everybody's crushing just as long as I crush a little more and that's how I'm wired. And I think that makes me likable yet fiercely competitive. Now, what if creating a better work-life health balance made you into a better 18 player? You know, I think that's happening now. Listen, I'm spending more time with my family than ever. I mean, this is one of the only times I'm doing something, you know, I don't know when you're playing this, but we're recording this over the weekend. So big shout out to you to be a hustler too. Like this is a very rare situation in 2014 for me to be doing something on a Saturday, but 2012, I was Saturday and sending it up all day long. So I think I'm working and executing better than ever,

yet I'm spending more time with my family. So I think the answer is that's right. And, you know, I think those, that's why I was pulling for that fear because there's really not much I'm spending more time with my family. So I think the answer is that's right. And, you know, I think those, that's why I was pulling for that fear because there's really not much I'm worried about. Now, do you think at the end of the day, I know you want to be a little bit better than everyone else, but what if you created a huge skyscraper yourself and then you created massive skyscrapers around you in thousands tens of thousands of other leaders and what if at some point these skyscrapers became bigger than yours but you were the one who built them and supported them and were behind their efforts would that still be okay with you or would you beat yourself up inside i would i would be okay i mean it would be much better some skyscraper that was built

that had nothing to do with me. So that's for sure. Um, and listen, I know my time will come, you know, there's always that time where you look around and listen, this is a lot of your own mind because there's plenty of business people that are more successful and make more money and have more fame than me. This is my own mind about how I'm doing it. Maybe this whole jab, jab, jab, right hook way, right? The, in my own, my own point of view, the right way in a way where you're still very liked and you're not killing anybody on the way to the top. Um, but yeah, listen, game loves game, right? Like the truth is I need some, I need people to do that. I love watching, you know, Evan Zucks and all these people build these huge companies. Like, you know, I'm more worried about

what happens to me at 60 and 70 for now, because I know I'm running a marathon while a lot of my friends are running sprints. I, in the back of my mind saying, cool, cool, cool, but I'll see you in 30. Right. What's going to be the interesting question to the interesting answer to this question is not when I'm 38, which is what I am now. It's when I'm 58 or 65, but then I'm going to be curious. Then the rubber hits the road. It's easy for me to answer that question right now. My concern is bitterness, competitiveness overrides me. And I'm very aware of that, thus making me feel like it won't, but I would be not authentic if I didn't tell you that I'm concerned because I want to be a good person and boy is competitiveness

an enormous backbone to who I am. Now I realized recently, but Lewis, you know what, let me say something actually, because it's funny to say this to you, you beating me in ping pong and basketball that day on the boat, I would have not handled it as well as I did 20 years earlier. I matured. I used to cry. I mean, I, I used to cry, not talk to people, dislike that, like, I'm a weird dude. So I've gotten better. As silly as that sounds, that's really how I rolled. And so maybe I mellow as I continue to go, but it's something I pay attention to for sure. I know you say it's in your DNA, and it's in my DNA to win at everything as well.

And I realized my entire life that I was coming from such an angry, defensive, egotistical place of why I wanted to win. And I just realized this year that I was coming from a negative place of passion as opposed to a loving place of passion. And it started to shift for me. My ego has really shifted from why I want to win as opposed to proving people wrong and being the best. And I want to know, I want to get, I want to get real with you and I want to hear why you think that you want to win so bad. I know you say it's in your DNA, but what were the things that happened to you when you were younger that really like made you like, screw you on the playground? Like I'm going to show you wrong or this and that.

And what was the few instances or the instance yeah were you like i'm gonna prove everyone in this world wrong there's a lot of things so there's a ton uh number one my dad is very competitive more competitive with each other which is a weird feeling it's kind of unnatural but that's you know when your dad's that, you're right in the game immediately. Number two, I was born in Russia. I couldn't speak English. So when I first hit the playground at four and five, I was immediately an outsider, right? I couldn't speak the language. When I was four, a story I've never told. So since you're bringing it up, I'll go there with you. When I was four and a half, five in Dover, New Jersey, if you notice, and you know my story, I always talk about how we moved to Edison, New Jersey, but like there was a six month period or one year

period in Dover, New Jersey. I don't even think about it anymore because it wasn't a great experience. I went outside and the kids like were making fun of me, but then they were like, oh, okay, we'll be your friend. And they gave me a Pepsi. They're like, drink it. And one of the kids pissed in it. Oh man. Yeah. Not good stuff. Right. But, but I would also be, I think at some level lying if I was like, Oh, the kids that gave me the Pepsi, the piss pee, as I'll call it, you know, they're the ones that have driven me to this. You know, I don't know if my competitiveness has come from a bad place. Like I said, and I think it's why I wrote Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. I love people. I'm pretty compassionate. I haven't worried about where it comes from. I really

believe it's this thing. Now, I also love the I told you so. I love when people sleep on me. I love being underestimated. There's an enormous gratification of proving someone wrong. It's why I make so many predictions. It's why tech has been so good to me. A lot of stuff I talked about, Twitter, oh my God, go read the stuff that was written in 06 and 07 about my POVs on Twitter and Tumblr. I was an idiot, whatever. What are you crazy? SEO and SEM and email marketing, that's the future. It's already working. This is stupid. I love those moments. It's why I continue to kind of be out there. But for me, that's one dark story that I've never really shared just to give it to you. But I'd be, again, lying if I was like, and that moment triggered me. I come from a good place. I'm one of these people, and I don't know

how you are. I'm one of these people that will want to break your face when we're playing, but like after the game, not right after I always get pissed at athletes that shake hands after games. I'm not good like that. If I lose, I'm out. But like a week later, a month later or a year later, I can be like, yo, that was good. Good shit. Like, you know, great job. You did. You deserve that. And so back to your bigger building question, I might not be the first to be like, wow, congrats. You've got seven extra stories than me. But in, in, in, in a month or three months or six months, I see that kid, that girl built the bigger building than me. If I see her at a conference, I'll walk by and head nod to her.

You know what I mean? Or I'll write a blog i wrote a linkedin piece because i'm one of the influencers of like six people that are underrated even though they're overrated and that was my head nod to ev williams and to you know josh ellman some other people i respect so i'll do it i'm definitely i can definitely i have it in me interesting at the end of the day strip away when after you're the owner of the Jets and you've won every award there is and you've made your billions, you've built huge companies, you've built huge buildings around you. At the end of the day, what is it you want people to really know about you? that ultimately I wanted to affect everybody around me in a positive way. That what I want them to know about me is actually what I think about a lot

that I've been saying a little bit more and I've never really talked about it, but I've been talking about it a little more, which is, and this is a big deal for me, Lois, and I hope the people listening really pay attention because one day you're going to have to know about this event and I hope you're there. The one thing that I want people to know about me is not something I can say. It's something that's going to happen. I want everybody

to judge me on the amount of people that come to my funeral. That's it. I live my life that way. I have interacted with you my whole life predicated on the theory that I want you there. And that's it. And that's going to be the whole kid in caboodle. That to me is everything. It's the thing I think about. It's the thing. It's a funny game too. You know, it's funny. I've gotten really deep with myself in the last couple of years as well. And I want to buy the jets because it's such a big goal that then I get my happiness, which is the climb. I'm only happy when I'm climbing, Lewis. Ironically, when you said if somebody made a bigger building than you, I was like, good,

because then I get to do renovations on my building and build it bigger, right? I love the climb. I actually never want to have the biggest building. I always want to strive. And it's interesting. I was like, why am I so infatuated with this? And then I was like, huh, it's the ultimate climb, right? It's the ultimate because I'll never know how many people showed up. Why do you want so many people to show up to your funeral? Because I want to live that kind of good life. I want to do right by people. I want my kids to be, I want my legacy to be great.

I want my kids and my grandkids, hopefully I get really up there. My great, great grandkids, I want them to look around and be like, yo, you know, like, wow, holy cow. Like we knew like granddaddy was great. We, you know, he was great to us. You know, obviously people knew who he was because if I'm already getting the notary I'm getting now, hopefully exponentially will go there. But look how many people look at this guy. This, you know, like, I want my great granddaughter to run to one of my other great grandsons and be like, I just met a guy who granddaddy met for four minutes once. And he's here, you know, like, that's what I'm looking for. Because that's how I live my life. When I go to conferences, and I'm in the green room, somebody gets me a coffee, like I say, thank you with all my heart. And then I talk to them for five minutes and I may never see them again. This incredible engagement with this gentleman in Raleigh, North Carolina,

internet summit. And you know, I, I want to leave an impact. I, you know, we only get one at bat, right? And like, I've already gotten more than I'll ever need. So yes, I love the game, which is why I'm playing it. That's why, listen, I need the dollars and all that for my game, my game of entrepreneurship. So the vanity stuff, but you know me, I'm not flashy. I don't have things. I just love the game. And then I love the game. And then I just want to impact people. It's why at South by Southwest last year, I'm doing a five hour Q and a booth while everybody else is you know i'm doing me i know what i'm doing right right and this year you did like an interview a day or something for people

right you were doing something crazy like that that's right i mean like i'm just trying to map i'm trying to map engagement you know that's why i like twitter you know that's because everything else is push out twitter is still like concise of conversation. I love it. I love it. A couple more questions. I want to talk about Overnear really quick because I know you're involved in Overnear and we're about to start, you know, promoting it a little bit. I want to get your thoughts on it.

The new app that we're launching. Yeah, you're a part of. Well, I'm advising it because, you know, you brought it to my attention. I love the team, bill and all those guys and you know it's the reason i'm into it sums up pretty easily it extends what we're talking about right now which is over here allows me to engage with my fans even more like when i'm in a town and i have 17 minutes to spare they're now going to be able to know because of its people discovery at its finest and so They're now going to be able to know because of its people discovery at its finest. And so I'm just going to be able to scale everything I talked about now, which is I'm

going to put all my travels publicly on over near. And when somebody's near me, they'll be able to see. And hopefully that will create the serendipity of me meeting them for a Pete's coffee and five minutes of friendship blooms. And net net, they come to my funeral, right? So that's that. I love it. I love it.

And we're actually doing a big party for your book tour. People are listening to this beforehand in Los Angeles. So make sure to look out for the details on the show notes page for that. December 4th. December 4th. I'll put the details on there. And final question, since it is Saturday and my Ohio State book guys are on halftime right now, so I got to get back to them.

What's your definition of greatness? I think greatness is defined in contradictions. One, everybody else thought you were. As many people, a high number of people, or maybe even a small number of people, they thought you were great, but it's not true greatness unless you yourself felt that it was great. Do you feel like your greatness right now? I do. I really do. And I always have. And, and I understand how that sounds. And I hope that people understand, you know, that self-confidence and all those kind of things comes with me.

It's just my mom raised me that way. My dad raised me that way. But I don't think it comes from a bad place. And I try to do great things with it. And I use my leverage in proper ways. And so, you know, I think you've set up an interesting interview. Good job, Louis. You got me to go some places I haven't gone. And so I think, you know, while I'm on this

blitz of promoting this book, I think a lot of people are going to find a lot of value out of this because we're getting stuff that isn't elsewhere. Right, right. Well, I appreciate it. Where can we find the book, Gary? You know, I really want to support local bookstores on this one. So if you can go to get your local bookstore to be huge and obviously Amazon's crushing and doing their thing. So that's that. And please hit me up on Twitter. You know,

my Twitter handles, Gary V E E. I highly recommend engaging with me because I'm looking for it and I'm looking to bring value with it. Awesome brother. I appreciate you. Thanks brother. Good luck in the second half.

Thanks man. We'll see you. Take care. Thank you. I appreciate you thanks brother good luck in the second half thanks man we'll see you take care thank you and there you have it guys I hope you enjoyed this episode make sure to check out the show notes

over on the blog you can go to schoolofgreatness.com or head over to lewishowes.com and check out all the show notes. You're going to have a video of Gary up on there so you can learn more about him there and

also links to his book and everything else that we talked about in today's episode. Very excited about this. I love what Gary talks about, what he represents and make sure to go buy this book. It's awesome. And you're really going to want to get access to the information that he shares. book. It's awesome. And you're really going to want to get access to the information that he shares. Super awesome stuff. So I hope you guys enjoyed this. We've got some big episodes coming out soon. And I just want to say a quick shout out to all the listeners out there and all the fans. I really appreciate all of you so very much from the bottom of my heart. It means so much. I get messages every day from people who are just discovering the show for the first time, who've never heard of the School of Greatness or me. And the messages that you guys are sending are so generous and thoughtful. And I'm so grateful

and humbled by the inspiration that these episodes are giving you and the guests that I'm bringing on, what they're doing for your careers, your business, your lifestyle, your relationships. And it's my mission to serve you, to be of service, to bring you the best information in the world, and to find really the top curated individuals that inspire me and be able to give access to you, to them. So again, thanks so much for all you guys do. I really appreciate it.

If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you share it with your friends. Let your friends know about the School of Greatness. It's all about getting the message out there and inspiring others to live their passion as well. So let your friends know. Give it a share on Twitter, on Facebook, or over on Google+. Anywhere you want to share it really would mean so much to me. And that's a way that you can give back if you want to serve the show. So with that, guys, thanks so much for tuning in. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music