Finding an Entrepreneurial Mindset, with Gary Vee

[Music] hi hi Aman hi Gary hi nice cap hey Gary you it's nice to see you again I think this is our third actually first time we talked it was in person second was zoom and again we're back to zoom call I think I have uh some really nice questions for everyone so hi everyone um I've narrowed down the questions three each and I'm going to jump between Gary and aan so let's get it kicked off um Gary can you hear me clearly very nicely lovely okay so the first question is for you Gary everyone keeps saying you got to have a winning mindset to succeed what does it mean exactly there's a second part to this question but I'll start first what does it mean to have a winning mindset first of all I'm humbled and honored to be a part of this incredible event you know I think um it's funny that when you asked that question the first thing that came to mind was relation a winning mindset is predicated on one's relationship with losing I I think when I've really spent time in analyze what I'm seeing out there people's fear and their relationship with losing is actually what's not driving their ability to have a winning mindset unfortunately and I'm sure this will resonate with the audience we're all aware that fear is a very high frequency in our society and I I think that more people are scared of losing than excited to win and so I think for purebred entrepreneurs when you go through your entrepreneurial Journeys often as a child or in your teenage years because you're pure bread it is who you are you get used to losing um it's just the nature of the game the Investments you pass on when you're older or the mistakes or the companies you have to shut down don't seem like this devastating thing and you know obviously schools where kids are scared to get a be let alone F uh create this fear mindset so for me a winning mindset is predicated on practical optimism you have to be optimistic you have to be comfortable with losing but you can't be delusional and that practicality matters I'll you know me Gary I'll have to add one more question so do you think a certain percentage of fear is actually healthy because it's keep keeps you on edge and it keeps you innovating rather than the fear that you were also talking about which is the paralyzing fear I the way you structure the question yes but I would say I don't think it's fear I think it's acknowledgment of truth I think everyone in this room has been around the block enough to know you hear others talk about what they're going to accomplish or how this startup is going to do this or or why this Project's going to work and you on the other side have the experience and the knowledge to know that these people are living in outer space so I don't think I or other people I admire and watch carefully have a certain percentage of fear I think they have a certain percentage of Common Sense and practicality and general understanding that there are risks and there are vulnerabilities and there are competitors there are things that are a part of the equation okay well the next part of the same question is how do you know you already have it the winning mindset and if you don't what do you need to do for me yeah um I think you have to practice you know I think you know you have to surround yourself with other positive people I think who you're around and what you listen to and what work you're putting in are incredibly important to a winning mindset I think sitting around and dwelling that you haven't been accomplishing what you want is a guaranteed outcome that you won't change it and so I think about mentality and perspective and operations and executing businesses from the same perspective as I think about health and wellness if you just read about doing push-ups you're not going to get the results of a push-up if you sit around and dwell that you're 50 pounds overweight and you're drinking too much or smoking too much nothing is going to happen if you start doing things if you start practicing things will happen it's hard to start when you're in a rut but for the people in this room or who are watching who have not been able to accomplish start to see a real uh entrepreneurship environment that is created in our in our society we don't have a lot of people that we look up to who have started from scr scratch and made it to that major success and young people they need that they need to see that they need to be emboldened in the US you have the idea that anyone you know anyone could be the president of the United States that that's a small idea but or small thing to say but it's a major idea and everybody hears it so you know coming to coming to your question and I saw your question was a huge block by the way Gary mine is like a oneliner but it but it's a but it's a heavy one uh you know success obviously can be measured um you know when you're building a company you can look at you can look at um getting customers and getting revenue and then it's profitability and then it's you know do you want to be a global company and are you do you have a global footprint so there are Black and Whites that you can look at that can measure success what I try to do every day what I try to tell people around me every day is obviously try to break things down into bite sizes because you know success and failure can be a big one or zero you want to start giving yourself goals you want to stick to those goals be real have people around you that are real absolutely that are positive as Gary said but don't have a bunch of yes people around you you need to have people that are holding you accountable to what it is that you say if you're don't want to say incapable but we all need help we all we can't do things alone and you know when I'm building a company when I'm I'm seeing others and I'm helping others build their company it's all about having um you know feed on the ground goals that you can achieve yes go shoot for the stars try to do all of this stuff but don't try to boil the ocean not get anything done say to yourself what is it that I'm doing today what is it that I'm doing this this quarter Max this quarter what am I trying to do this month what am I trying to do this week what am I trying to do today to to reach those goals and have people around you a great team that you can uh not Outsource things to but partner with to get things done and then look back and say to yourself am I hitting the goals am I aware of the goals that I'm I'm hitting am I adding a thousand more goals as I go along so a measure of success for me is is looking at what you start with what you end up with and measuring yourself against that the fact you're doing that is a measure of success in and of itself thank you amen um Gary um I'm going going to tell you a statistic that I received and you can I don't know is it a plus or minus but let's see what you think they say that the mortality rate for startups is about 60% in the first three years and four out of 10 get over the hump but barely Thrive what's your take on on the stat it makes sense to me I actually think I didn't I didn't expect the number to be so low meaning it's in we have this crazy phenomenon that happened in the last 20 years 15 years which is entrepreneurship became cool I did not knowing I was going to be a businessman my whole life there was no scenario where I thought I would be honored to be able to do what I'm doing right now and people would be interested in my journey from a pop culture standpoint maybe in a B2B magazine maybe in the Wall Street Journal but not broadly I I I think the amount of fake businesses that are being built today is at a record high because the cost of Entry to start something is so low in this internet world we live in there was so much more costs associated with starting a business 25 years ago so I think you know I think look I I wish everyone could be successful and happy and get along WR but that's not the reality of the universe and so I I think that's a reality I think it's um makes sense to me and if I had a really bet on it I would say that more businesses fail in the first three years than even that statistic yeah and and you know I I think I think building a real business is hard I I have a lot of friends or acquaintances or meetings every year where I'll meet someone and I'll you know at an event at something like this in the hallway we'll get to talking and they'll say I have a business and we'll get into it and they'll ask me a question and often I'll ask because I need the context to answer it well how big is the business and I will tell you the single most challenging devastating thing in the last five years is watching people who've taken something from zero to $4 million a year right and say to me ah only $4 million and I always get so motivated and put my hand on their shoulder I'm like do you understand how many people never get to this level the majority you're comparing yourself to some of the biggest companies ever created and so I think we have a a misconception of how hard this game is how challenging it is and my reaction to it is it makes sense and I think the number is actually even more challenging than I just heard yeah I 100% agree I I was surprised by the number I mean it's like a rocket ship taking off if you think of wanting to send a rocket into space when is what is the hard part the hard part is getting off the ground and it is exponentially harder than once you're in space and you're floating in zero friction you need very little to to propel you forward but to get off the ground the amount of energy that it takes that energy is either in innovation in funding in in teamwork and Clarity and all of that stuff so yeah I agree with with Gary I was surprised by the Numbers the funny thing is the I think this was the first time I met Gary I went to a talk in one of the Emirates here in the US is the opportun is extraordinary but it takes actual skill to achieve it so kudos to the leaders around the region in the Middle East that have created the infrastructure of opportunity America did that 150 years years ago but it didn't mean that every single person was going to live the American dream the children that are born in the region right now are extremely fortunate and we'll have opportunities that are unparalleled maybe around the world but it doesn't mean that it's just so easy to build something and I think we have to have that conversation absolutely um Aman in your uh entrepreneurial Journey what is the risk that you took and what is something you would do differently there's a there's a legendary story about um the baloria where a person was asked what is a risk a Define a risk and they wrote this is a risk closed it and left and apparently they got full marks we hope anyway so um the reason why I'm saying that story is that currently I am taking a very big risk in building a a an alternative social network in today's day and age and um we're we're trying to do things differently by innovating by creating a new environment that isn't built on the same business model that everybody else is going after or has gone after in the past and and the present so um I mean it's the big I'd say it's probably one of the biggest risks that I've taken I've been a part of very risky uh executions of major construction projects and and things like that but what I learned throughout the years is that you can't do things alone you have to surround yourself with people who aren't just going to say yes to you that are going to challenge the things that you're you're trying to do because everything starts with an idea and an idea some people think is 50% of the way it's not it's 5% of the way because no matter what you have opportunity like Gary said the greatest environment etc etc the risks of of failure are stacked up the the probability of of failure is stacked up much more against you than um than success and so you need to you need to really hone down the just the process of being able to execute understanding what what counts what doesn't don't you know surround yourself even even in your own mindset don't fuel delusion delusion is a lot easier to a trap to fall into than you think and it could be with numbers analytics it could be with any kind of of data as long as you remain true to your principles have the right team around you then you take something that is very risky any entrepreneur any and any entrepreneurial venture is risky and there are some that are more than others and certainly the one that I've taken on is very risky but it's one where I go in and you can look at any interview that I've done on the day that I started up to today and I'm staying true to my principles the execution the embodiment May differ May morph May evolve but the principle Remains the Same and that I believe lowers the risk because if you're asking people to trust you I don't think you can trust somebody that changes their mind every day or changes you know what their goal is every day so um yeah I can't I'm putting a lot on the line on what it is that I'm doing right now and Vero is one of the biggest Ventures that I've gotten into and I'm hoping for it to be a a big success but I H I keep my feet on the ground and I have luckily a friend like Gary who keeps me uh honest and and we all need people like that in our lives and the second part of the question what what would you do differently what would I do differently I I think any entrepreneur would say to themselves there's a lot that you can optimize on when you look back but I'm very you know I I I learned from my father to be both um optimistic but a realist and so going forward I just keep my feet on the ground at all times I never say to myself that I've achieved this incredible thing just because I went to work every day and I got something done that I said I was going to do that's not you you can't pat yourself on the back for that um so I'm sure that there are lots of things that I could have done differently but alhamdulillah I've remained honest I've kept a team around me I built a team that feels more like a family than people working together and we're working towards a goal that we all believe in you know I got um a nice Point recently cuz when we we're working on the agency and and Gary you can also chip in uh and tell me what you think uh my ex-managing director she said that her husband told her we should stop saying we have a family as a team but say we have a team because in your family not everybody you know works well together some people you get along with some people you don't some people are lazy but as a team if you want to be a great entity or a great organization you need a good team and and a team is the defense plays defense offense plays offense everybody does their job and you jel and you have that chemistry and that switched my mind and I started to lessen the word family and use a great team more what do you guys think Gary you want to start look I think I think I think words matter and I think it's exceptional that that conversation led to action or strategy my my answer to it is I think even though words matter I think a lot of this comes down to semantics um I think some of the best teams of all time if you speak to the athletes that were on it their opening line is this team felt like a family so yeah I think I think it's great and I think every day we hear things from Partners mentors relationships I had a meeting yesterday with somebody who's worked at my company for 31 days days and as a child at 22 years old and she was saying something innocently that wasn't even the intent but it gave me an Insight of how I want to run something substantially different in my 2000 plus company I think this is actually aopo timing I think dialogue and conversation is everything and I think it's how it we we get to good places so I'm thrilled that that happened in your world but at at the direct question I think sometimes it's all just semantics yeah and I mean I've been working with people for the better part of 10 years and our churn has been very very small so you know like it or not you become a family you know about each other's problems and you you're there to help each other and sometimes we can all work towards a goal we all believe in something and that's great but I also think that there's a layer that and I certainly picked this up from my uh from my late father where you could see people are working um believing in something higher that there's a higher purpose to what it is that you're doing we're building a social network sounds good there's code that needs to be written there's software architecture Etc but what are you going to bring and why are you going to bring it more if it's just to fulfill a particular technical problem and and solving for that you want to bring something if you believe in it and you believe in it because you've jelled as you said as as a team and the longer that goes on the more it feels like you're part of something bigger and alhamdulillah that's that's how it feels for us nice Gary um your final question can we have an unconventional answer for an often asked question what would which I don't I don't need this intro you don't need an intro you're talking sure what would you advise someone planning to take the entrepreneurial leap that self-awareness leads to AC ual success which is happiness and peace of mind and obviously financial and other things that nature and you know my my advice would be are you doing this because it's in your soul or are you doing this because it's currently cool or one of the things that you know people admire in society I think why matters I think why the concept of the why is something that thank God over the last 20 years has populated and got more popular um and you know I I think there's a lot of Truth to that you know for me entrepreneurship is the single most exciting way to live life um so I will always try to encourage and be a cheerleader for it however um I I think that in this exact second we should recognize that there are a lot of people who are struggling um you know just not to end up on a bleak note but you know substance abuse and even suicide is very prevalent in the last decade of Entrepreneurship because a lot of people got into the game that shouldn't have gotten into the game it's incredibly lonely you can't hide from your failures but school and parenting and most things on Earth you can hide so it's extremely suffocating um there you're you know you're you know every time I go to sleep when I wake up grab my phone because I have a global organization and something might be on fire so you're a firefighter so I just I just try to encourage people that it's the greatest but you are the last line of defense when you are the founder and operator and CEO of a new Venture and it's like being a parent it comes with a lot and I just want to make sure your stomach is ready for it so you know I think I think those are the conversations I get excited about when I talk about it yeah very good point I I've met I've talked some people down from I I agree with Gary it's it's it's a wonderful feeling to be an entrepreneur but I've also talked people out of it because when I ask them well why do you want to do this and they say Well it basically comes down to don't want to report to somebody and don't want to work from 9: to 5 and you know want to have my want to have my own hours well that's the result it's but do you have an idea that you're passionate about you want to do and that you believe in and you vetted and you've checked and as Gary said it's it can be very lonely so it's it's it's also very funny when people say I want to work my own hours right I don't work my own hours 24 hours my answer yeah my answer is congratulations You' just worked every hour exactly um Aman I'll uh I'll end with this question with you as an entrepreneur how do you balance leading with vision while staying open to feedback and adapting to change and it's a good question when I read it twice because you know people tell you you need to be stubborn and really believe in your vision and I think both of you have gone through this but also there's that the word delusional we used a lot today where is it that fine line where you're like but maybe if I do this it's better maybe if I listen to this person and sometimes you have a lot of I'm not going to say bad advisers you have really wise people around you who are giving you data or Insight or opinions and it's really tricky whether you should go to the dark uh route with no lights or you go to the one that is well lit so we're going to go back to what Gary was saying before um about self-awareness that's very important what leads to the dark side it you know there's a huge difference between uh but but can feel subtle but the outcome of arrogance versus confidence arrogance leads you down to the dark side because you're unaware of what it is that you're the reason why you're doing something and you want to be stubborn some of some people are so fixated on wanting to be an an innovator somebody who has created something new that they'll stick to that something new even though it is useless nobody cares about it and everybody's telling them we don't want this Etc and so really what you know being open to change is important but you have to have the confidence to not just because I had a conversation with somebody I changed my mind I changed my entire company I changed my entire product line my product mod road map development Cycles everything because I had a single conversation with somebody that changes my mind that is that that isn't the way to go but at the same time if you've fallen into the Trap of arrogance and and confidence has taken you over the over the edge you always need to check yourself that's why again talking about having the right people around you questioning things being honest with yourself doing it for the right reasons what are you trying to be are you trying to be Steve Jobs if you want to be Steve Jobs then okay great this is one she Steve Jobs and was at a different era Etc but it and you may get there you may not get there and that's you know just a matter of chance but if what you're trying to do is build something real then understand the fundamentals of what it is that you you're looking to to introduce into the world what are the reasons behind it what is your motivation why did you start in the first place have some principles that you've defined and then every day action action build build together work with Partners etc etc this stuff is hard it doesn't get done in a day there's no S Silver Bullet an overnight success is is 10 years in the making nice it's a nice sentence to end with well thank you guys thank you Gary it's nice to see you amen thank you thank you everyone thanks Gary thank