The Secret To Building Wealth That Anyone Can Apply | GaryVee Audio Experience w/ Codie Sanchez

Brand is the only thing people don't understand.

In a world where technology is going to eat up everything and Excel sheet junkies can outmath you, me with my like hot boy window cleaning company, you know, like a personal calendar, a great Instagram, they're doing trick flips at your house, I'm going to beat the private equity window cleaning companies. Why? Name a single roofing company. It's damn hard to compete with tech businesses. Like, you're going to go head-to-head with Sam Altman at OpenAI? Like, Elon's struggling with that. That's tough. But that's like where we're telling young kids to go. We're like, go build an app. They're like, I don't know, maybe. If you are really fucking good, you should go do that.

You know what's funny? I've been telling kids, go build your personal brand because you can deploy that leverage against something, whether you want to go Main Street. And it is the only thing that is defensible against the macro technology. Once people understand what AI agents are about to do to the world, they're going to realize real fast how important brand is. And so to your point, I think it's a very good beacon 'cause you think about the long tail of small businesses. You know, I don't know the math, you know probably better than I do, but I start thinking about how many hairdress salons are there in the world? Forget about America. How many private gyms are there, right? And then, and by the way, this is why I built Vayner. My big thing was I'm probably at a place now where I'll actually just do private equity, but I knew that I built it to potentially do micro private equity Because if I bought 7 laundromats, I also have the ability right now with my 2,000-person global marketing firm to come up with a brand and do great marketing for it. And there's a lot of efficiency back office, but if you can create growth, I mean, I don't think big girl, big boy private equity, my biggest argument to the titans at KKR and BlackRock and Blackstone, and I speak to a lot of them, is you guys are great at financial and operational efficiency, You guys don't know shit about marketing and you're wasting a lot of money.

Oh, I mean, you're so right. Like, for instance, I wonder if I have one here. We have a company called Pinks. I was looking, I have all these hats on here from our companies that we own. But Pinks is this cool company that is a bunch of young, kind of good-looking dudes in traditional '50s outfits and they're window cleaners. Yep.

Oh, I know that business. I know that business.

I own that business.

Good for you.

So yeah, part with them.

I'm a part of it. I get it.

Yeah, we're co-owners in the business. So we have— they have 120 locations across the country now. Um, our holding company that owns that one and like a painting company and some other companies, 600 locations across the country. And, and our mission is like a little bit different, which is to your point, I'm not saying just like go do the minimum with the business, then it's hard to compete with private equity. They're really cost efficient, they're financial wizards, those are smart guys and gals, but Like you said, they do not get brand. They do not get brand. And guess what? Me with my like hot boy window cleaning company, you know, like a personal calendar, a great Instagram, they're doing trick flips at your house. I'm gonna beat the private equity window cleaning companies. Why? Because nobody can name a single roofing company. It's the same as a window cleaning company.

Of course. People don't understand.

I think brand is the only thing. And I also think, It's going to be like hard assets and real estate.

I think you're right that hard assets are great, but I will never miss a New York Jets game.

Yeah.

Codie, we could become friendly off of this. You could text me in 9 years and be like, "Gary, if you can please just meet me in Midtown Manhattan." I live in Manhattan. "They're a big fan of both of us and you're the missing piece. We could get this. It will be the biggest deal." In fact, I've used my AI calculator. This will be the biggest financial deal of both you and my career, but they can only meet in Midtown at 1:00 PM. If the New York Jets are 0-13 and playing their 14th game of the year and they're playing at 1 o'clock, I will not be at that meeting. That's called religion. That's called brand. So I think you're, I mean, look, to say anything is the only thing already isn't true. Yeah, but I do think as technology continues to go ham, as when you think about the blockchain and AI agents and this whole wave of Web3, VR, it's all coming. Uh, I, I really am a big fan of it, and I, I think it's— I think it makes the act— like, of course you have the common sense and know how to balance your checkbook and all these little things, but if you're asking me what can win in an upset, right? Like if you're gonna upset, like a sports term, like P.E.'s against you and they're much bigger, but you're just like the only thing, it's not, you're not gonna have more hard assets than them, you're not gonna have better technology, you're not gonna have better AI, it's going to be brand, and that's why I spend my life on it.

Right now, somebody that you know, Gary, or maybe more importantly, somebody that's listening right now, somebody that's your parents, your dad, your uncle, your cousin has a business, that is making them not happy anymore, that maybe just want to retire from. And I don't think we need intermediaries. We don't need banks. We don't need private equity companies in order to exchange businesses. We used to exchange businesses with apprenticeship. Now, now apprenticeship is illegal in the US, which is probably how you know it's a good thing. And so break that down for me.

I don't, I don't know what you just said there. Meaning I know apprenticeship. I remember like your store manager became like your pseudo son or daughter and they bought it from you, right? I'm not— we're not talking family business. You're actually talking about like I was I had two pizza shops. Little Johnny started working for me in the summers in '15. He decided he liked it. He became my store manager. He worked for 22 years. I didn't have any children, or they didn't have any interest in my business, and little Johnny bought the business from me and bought it out from me, paying me a little bit year on year. That I know, 'cause I grew up with that. I think about that. Tell me what part is now illegal in the US.

Well, apprentices used to be unpaid. That was unpaid internships. Now we've changed the word. But that's how you used to get an apprentice. They're like, I am not qualified. I don't know how to run.

You're talking, I'm sorry, you're talking about, which also used to happen, right? I had a business. It wasn't somebody who grew up in my business. It was sometimes, and often, you know this, a customer of my business who got, who like didn't like what they were doing. And they were like, wait, you're looking to sell? Joe, don't sell. Wait a minute, I'll buy it from you, Joe. I'll work for a year for free. You teach me the business and I'll buy it from you.

100%. And that used to be actually how we transitioned most businesses in the US. It was either your family or that. And so, what I'm saying is I think we gotta bring a little bit more of that back 'cause there's simply not enough people.

By the way, that illegal, I'm sorry to interrupt you, this just gets me crazy. Do you know how most things in the world start with good intent but then they fuck everything up? I understand the concept of like, hey, let's not fuck people and be predatory and not let them do unpaid internships, but what about the people that have no opportunity? One of the only things they have is their effort. And so, you know, highbrow academic, like, we can do the right thing, humans don't know how to do the right thing. People come up with these fucking rules and you just actually took away good shit from people that had good intent. Not fucking demon corporations that are like, we're gonna fuck the kids. I mean, including kids that come from a lot of wealth who don't want to be nepo babies and work for their parents and were will— but could afford to go work somewhere for free. That just fucks me up so much.

It's awful. Well, I mean, it's, you know, it's actually— it's wild. I was sitting with somebody from the SBA last night. There are 214,000 regulations on small businesses in Texas. In Texas, you can't even do a— you can't even be a hair braider.

I love how Texas is like, we're so fucking capitalist, America. Fucking 2, it's absurd. Scares me to ask how many are in New York and California.

Oh, I couldn't even, you guys, 8 trillion. Yeah, there's like, we can't count enough. I think the point is for humans, especially people who listen to you, they're already, they already don't think they're victims because you yell at them a lot. They already believe that they are capable of something. And all I hope to push on some people is like, think a little bigger. Love. That's it.

Honestly, I love what you're doing, and let me tell you why. It's uncomfortably practical. No, really, I'm being dead fucking serious. Like, I don't think people understand that they can buy an entire business for $10,000. And it might even motivate them to do what I want, which is, hey, remember when I keep yelling about buying Starbucks when you have no savings, or taking Ubers when you have no savings? I believe most people, that make $80,000 a year or higher can actually save a lot of money if they get humble and strategic, and then if they take that from me and then they learn from you how to take $10,000 to buy a business, they can quit that job they hate. And by the way, I painted a story in here that I hope everyone listens to. Your dream professional life might be buying the thing that you visit a lot as a customer. If one person, Codie, through the years, 'cause you know, obviously a lot of people listen right away, but this will be listened to a lot over the next 5 years. If somebody in 2 years from now hears this, gets motivated, and notices that Carol at the flower shop used to be so peppy, but now the last 3 times they came, she seems miserable, and gets the courage to say, "Hey Carol, would you sell this to me 'cause I love flowers?" because of this podcast, we would've left a really good mark.

100%. And even like, For the people listening, I want you to play a game. Every time you go into a store that's not Walmart or Target, just ask if the person who's running the place owns it. Like, I love this place, this is great, great ice cream cone, thanks for making this. Do you own the joint? This is a really cool spot, thanks for doing this. What they're going to find is more often than not, that person behind the counter is the owner. Yep. Know all these owners and you don't even realize it. And if you would stay in touch with them over the years, you might find a bunch of people that want to sell their business to you. And what's the worst case scenario? We have done a thing where we humans actually to each other and treat each other like humans again. That's it.

By the way, let me go even further because I loved that you just did that. Let me give you another one. Do you know how flattered that person feels? Codie Sanchez, do you know how good it feels when you've been working your face off as, you know, I grew up in a small business. I grew up in a vet, you know, Wine Library is big now, but the store I worked for was actually Shoppers Discount Liquors, and it was my dad's local liquor store, you know, and I grew up in that, and I can tell you If you go to a small business owner because you like it— candy shop, ice cream shop, hairdresser, you know, whatever it is— and you say, "Hey, do you own this?" And then if you go and you got motivated by this and you're that person, you're like, "Hey, would you ever consider selling this?" When they're like, "No, no, no, I love this." When you leave, that person is going to feel like a million bucks. "That person wanted to buy my business. I must be doing something right. That felt good." You know, that in a world when small businesses have a lot of customer complaints, even if they're doing a good job, having somebody offer to buy your business is like the greatest thing in the month. So to your point, yes, you're contributing to humans interacting, which is lovely, but I promise you it's actually better than that. You're flattering another human being, which is just a beautiful gesture.

Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, we have a saying in our group that there are only two types of people. There are helpers and there are Yelpers. And Yelpers are the people who go on Yelp and they talk shit about small businesses. Businesses. And they don't realize that in order to get rid of one negative review, you need 20 if you're a small business. That's the ratio. So every time you do a negative— small business, yeah, you are, you are tanking a small business. And by the way, most small businesses are solopreneurships that run at 10% margin, and they are trying really hard. And so I think giving them a little grace is also really cool. And then, you know, those, those owners are often a little older. They don't have all the technology that your crew has. They don't understand blockchain. They don't understand brand. And so if bring that into a small business and you just get it by shaking hands with an owner and being a decent person, I think our society would be a little bit better. And also, you don't like people buying Starbucks for savings. I don't like people buying Starbucks because have you been to one lately? Where are the chairs, Gary? Where are the chairs? They started out as like the third home and now I'm like, it's cement. She's mad at me. She spelled my name wrong. You know, I'm getting yelled at. No. Yeah.

You know, it's funny. It's really funny. Even though I grew up in a family business, I am a little less romantic about the like support local business versus corporation. Like there's plenty of small coffee shops that suck shit and my Starbucks in the corner is much better than, comma, I hear what you're saying and let's just take this to a different plane. There's a fuckload of business opportunity for a lot of people listening right now on what you're pushing. So let's get to that point for a second. Main Street Millionaire, everybody. Probably one of the things I'm most flattered about and always laugh about with actually my, my family, because I joke about this. This podcast has a really good reputation for selling books, which is funny because I don't read them really. But I do want everybody to, if you're interested in this, to pick up the book Main Street Millionaire. It's really, really, really getting good street cred. I think it's a good read. I think it's a good complement to a lot of things I touch on emotionally. And kind of like it's there, but I think this goes into the actual details of, so I think it's a good compliment for my audience because I don't go head-on in that detail on it, so I think it's a good addition to the repertoire. I knew since I was 8 I was gonna be a businessman. And so, you know, I'm 49 now. Like back then, there was no thought of like people knowing who you are. Maybe in the business I was gonna be in a little bit, So, and then by the time it started happening for me, I was in my mid-30s. I was grown. It still feels incredibly nice. And I also know like why people like my stuff. And I feel like it's for good reasons. It's not because like I can hit a home run or I'm the most attractive man on earth. Like it's because of like something pretty good.

I always like when people say thank you instead of like, oh, I've always wanted to meet you or That to me is like, okay, we helped you out.

Not that it's about me that much. I'm really excited the moment you're in. I know these moments of bursts are always super fun, so congrats.

Thanks. Well, you do a good job, it sounds like, of recognizing them. I was joking with the team when we hit the New York Times bestseller. I was like, huh, I don't know if I feel anything right now. That's so weird. I thought I would feel something.

I wish my brother was here. He'd be laughing. He says, the single greatest flaw I have is the inability to smell roses. I'm macro grateful. Yeah. But I don't really make those kind of goals, nor do I think like much of them either. Yeah. I think I'm the same.

I was curious though, 'cause this is one of the ones where—

I think that might be somebody who then ends up liking the process. I feel like that means we probably are both similar in the fact that like we like the process. Like I like the game more than the trophy that comes from the You like the game.

Totally. I like the game. I don't think I could stop. Like, I don't, when people are like, well, isn't it enough? Or why do you talk online? Why don't you, you know, shut up and be rich and be quiet? I'm always like, well, that doesn't sound that fun. Like, what do you do after a while? I wish I had a hobby. I don't have any fucking hobbies. So that would be helpful.

People that don't have hobbies are the big winners in life in some ways. I mean, look, you could be passionate about your career and have like a couple great hobbies. And I think that's like the really awesome, but I get it. My, my work is my hobby for sure. My only other hobby brings me incredible pain. It's following the New York Jets, so I don't know. I'm staying away from hobbies. You know, you're having a really great moment. I feel like you're popping up a lot, so you're in that moment, but because I also know, 'cause I pay attention to things, it's not like you just started today and different things of that nature. So if I said, give me the 3-minute, you've got the whole floor, I want as many people in the VaynerNation to have a sense of who you are, take it away.

I'm a reformed finance person, basically, and what happened, I think, is what happened to a lot of people, especially in New York, where you are, which is like, I thought there was a path that I was supposed to follow for a long time. Like, you know, good little Latina daughter, you go get a nice job, you work in a big corporate field, you go to Wall Street, that's super cool. You work at Goldman Sachs, you climb this ladder, you work at a bunch of big firms. Finally, you're at the head of the ladder, you run a billion-dollar in assets under management business in Latin America at First Trust. You think that's kind of cool. And then, uh, after being in, you know, in finance on Wall Street, however you want to say it, for let's call it like 12 years, Man, I was like, I looked into the future. I looked at the corner office guys and, you know, it was like, and I'm divorced, so no harm, no foul. But it was like 5 or 6 divorces, 47 Lambos, just a lot of stuff that I didn't care about and they didn't seem very happy. And so I was like, what game are we playing here? And I don't think I want to play anymore. And I really like money and I like the game of business, but it felt a little shallow. And I had started in finance because I was a journalist along the US-Mexico border. And when I thought about why I got into the game originally, it was because my last name Sanchez. I was along the US-Mexico border. I was covering human trafficking in Juárez. I remember. Yeah. And I remember like watching what happened to people who looked like me. And they were like really terrible things, you know, drug violence, cartel violence. And so I remember thinking, why do I have this life and they don't? And the difference is truly one thing, which is cash. If you have money, not nationality, not race, not sex, but money, then you can assert your will in the world and somebody else has a harder time asserting it on you typically. And so that's why I got into finance. And then when I climbed so many ladders, I think at points I forgot about it. I got into it for my own good. And then I was like, oh, wait a second. Uh, I don't want to be these people and I want to get back to my roots. And so I started buying little businesses on the side and maybe not that dissimilar to you've talked about a few times. It was like a little dabble over here because I was too scared to do something really big. I was a corporate wuss and I made a lot of money and I didn't wanna leave and I didn't have a big idea. Yeah. Golden.

You had the golden handcuffs of the money you were making. And so like, it makes sense. And it, and again, I think that sometimes people find entrepreneurship and, and then they can do it, but like most entrepreneurs actually do it right from the get, cuz they're incapable of doing anything else. And then there's people like yourself who actually had it there. They didn't know. But most people are entrepreneurial tendencies, not an actual entrepreneur. And that's where they get caught. And you hear the horror stories of somebody right now who's listening and get inspired by you making a million dollars a year being a big-time lawyer. It's like, yeah, I'm gonna go do it. And then they lose everything and it's not as good. And so you got self-awareness, a big one. So you started to dabble, which I love.

And yeah, and, and I think I really actually— I try not to recommend anything. I just say what I do and like what I learned one way or the other. But I don't think enough people tell you, like, you don't have to quit the whole thing, to your point. Like, I bought a couple businesses on the side, little ones. And when you say bought businesses, people go, yeah, must be nice. If I was rich, I'd do that too. And like, wait a second. Like, my first business that I quote unquote bought was like less than $10K. This was a little online consulting business. And my second or third or fourth business was, you know, a $100K laundromat. Those aren't tiny, but it's not, you know, this isn't a rich person only game. And so I bought those at the side, had somebody else working with me running them day to day while I was working really long hours. And then eventually I was like, wait a second, this scales. We just buy more of, we buy not one laundromat, but we buy 5 or 6 and then we wrap them up and then we have efficiencies of scale. And so finally I got to a point where I was like, wait a second, I'm making way more money and I like it on the side doing this boring business.

I'm sorry to interrupt because it's something that I've wanted to, like I've dabbled in myself and was the long-term vision of what I'd want to build on top of VaynerMedia, VaynerX. I started the advertising agency to build a private equity firm on top of it. But I came up with this term for myself 7, 8 years ago called micro private equity. And when I heard you just say that, I'm like, yeah, it's almost like my, you know, private equity as we know it, they go out and buy the big businesses we know. They buy Dave Buster's or Crocs or things of that nature, Supergoop. This thing is more like entrepreneurial, but the way you were thinking about it, when you're thinking about buying one laundromat, but then get 5, efficiency scales, That, that's what I would define as micro private equity. Have you ever thought of it that way? Do you see that? Do you agree, disagree?

Now I see it that way. Back then I was like, I just think that this is an efficient way to get more customers faster, right? Like, why would we keep doing that? But I did steal our private equity playbook. I was like, I was in private equity, so I'm like, oh, interesting, got it. Yeah, I'm like, we just do leveraged buyouts, and instead of using banks' capital, third parties, aka LPs' capital, I'll just use my own, and then I'll, I'll try to talk the seller into doing a deal with me. And I didn't even know the term back then. Seller financing was not that normal, uh, in vernacular. I think it's always existed. Um, and so I was like, wait a second, how would I buy part of this? You're kind of old, you're kind of tired, you're kind of sick, you don't want to keep running it. You float me some of it, and I'll give you more of the upside. We'll keep kind of running this thing together. And not everybody's going to give you that deal, but some did. And so That's how I thought about it. But now I think this is just— here's my, my two cents. If I have like a something I scream from the rooftops of the world, it's that private equity guys are the richest guys in the world. You know this, you know a bunch of them. If it's not private equity guys, it's guys who have bought businesses and do transactions within their business, AKA Jeff Bezos, like 194 acquisitions or something like that. So everybody who makes a lot of money buys businesses businesses. It just hasn't been normalized for the little guy in the same way that real estate hasn't. That's right. Real estate today, it's normal to buy a house or a few and fix them and flip them up. I think in 20 years that'll be the same way for businesses. They will not agree. A lot that are tradable, right?

Could not agree more.

So that's my pitch is like, let's normalize access to everybody. It doesn't mean that the big guys still can't make a ton of money. BlackRock and Blackstone are doing fine buying single property. Yeah.

And by the way, of course that's going to happen because they're going to be looking at for different things, they're already at a place where it's not as interesting. When I was a little kid and I made $1,000 at my first baseball card show, it felt like $1 trillion. And then there was a time that the number became $10,000. $10,000 was like, holy shit. And I will remember, I mean, I always had big dreams, but I remember really being like, I need to be someone who can make $100,000 a year. You know, I came from lower middle class. Middle class. And I was also growing up in the '80s when $100,000 was really what's now considered a million in a lot of ways. So, you know, yeah, I mean, of course, to your point, you know, Apollo and BlackRock, Blackstone, all these players, KKR, like, they're going to be looking to buy Coca-Cola, not necessarily, you know, the 3 bodegas that sell Coca-Cola.

You're exactly right.

You've had a really good run here the last year.— and you probably know it better than I do of exact timing— anything that you feel has led to you kind of popping off a little bit more than you have. You've been having a consistent climb, but let's not be confused. Like, you're in a little bit of a moment, and I've had like different moments where I have moments, and you know, it's just like anything else. Like, it's like a good stock, you know, like a good stock, and then peep, and so that's what I would say you have been, but I know you're in your moment right now, For example, just me living my life, how I roll, many more people in the last year be like, hey, do you know this? Versus 3 years ago. What, what if anything made that happen?

A couple things. One, I'm, I'm about 3 years in to being on the internet. So I think like your freshman year, you know what the fuck you're doing. You got no idea. You know, your sophomore year, you're kind of the same. Your junior, like if you're serious about something, that's when you start to make varsity, right? So to use another term, I think, um, from my perspective, I love any game of business that I get to play. I treat media like a business, you know. We own all these other companies, but if you, if you saw the back end— we just hired a president from a really big name. I'm going to make the announcement this week, and I think it'll be cool. But this president has run one of the biggest media companies in the world, and, uh, and I was sure— I was nervous to bring him in. I'm like, he's gonna see what fucking idiots we are over here. Nope. And And what he said instead is he was like, I've never seen a media company that's run like a financial firm. And so I think about it like data. Yeah, because it is.

Yeah, of course.

And it's just you can actually predict what's going to happen if you obsess on the data. And I think the data has to be paired with the fact that I try to obsess on like one human. We call them Job Working John. This is the person that I am talking to. And so everything we do is with the idea of this avatar. And I know what they look like. And I've met them before and I've written all—

and what's, and what's amazing for you is there's 73,000 variants of, of John, right? And different races, genders, income levels, interest categories. And, um, yeah, I've called it Rick and Sally, and I get mad at Rick and Sally. I always yell at Rick and Sally for doing the wrong things, but I have a very good sense of what you're saying there.

Um, what do you want me to A lot of people don't talk to— I think one of the problems with people on the internet is once you start getting a little attention, then it gets, you know, then you want to like impress other smart people or other high-profile people.

Yeah, I think a lot of people want fame or notoriety for money and not to work. So I think there's a lot there. I mean, this is what I spend a lot of time on, Codie. I think to your point, when someone gets— the reason like when people are coming up I'm always watching. I watch a lot. I mainly listen, even though it seems like I'm always yapping. Yeah, I think most people don't love the game, and so if they get a little something, they just want to, you know, lay by the pool and party and hook up. And those are all cool things, and like, it's not like anything's bad, but I think the reason most people lose their way is they're not about it. They're not about providing value to the audience. They're not about building something really substantial, and they don't love the game of building things. They want the trophies. They don't want to play the game. So once they played enough of a game to get a trophy, they're like, this was good enough. And by the way, that's amazing. That's amazing. They're allowed. Everyone's allowed to live their life however they want. But I think if, to answer your question, I think that's why when you look at it, you're like, oh, why did they do that? That anything you want to call out specifically? I think we're talking about it here, but anything they can expect from the book or anything just to give the book one minute? Yeah.

I mean, The book to me, I need tactics. Like they come to you and now they're inspired. They believe in themselves. Maybe we've gotten them to think a little bit bigger. In the book, you should get to the book and be like, I'm ready to fucking go. I want steps 1 through 27. I want you to explain to me definitions of things. And I want to understand what does it look like in a script the first time I speak to an owner. I want to understand how do I do a transaction using what I call the three-legged stool, which is how do I, if I don't have cash, which is one leg of the stool, how do I use expertise or how do I use sweat in order to buy part or whole of a business. And I want you to break down that 3-part formula. And so in the book, you should expect a guidebook, a playbook. And it's not saying that this is the only way. It is showing a bunch of ways. And so don't pick it up if you don't actually want to do something, because then it's not the book for you. It's funny. It's cute. You know, my grandma has some great lines in there. They're super inappropriate. But it is for people who actually want to do the thing. And then my only ask of the people is that you be the— be better than the boss that you hated that made you want to quit your job. That's my ask.

Yeah, I mean, I don't even want to— I'm not sure I even want to take that baton because, boy, I don't know, you know, I do a good job of getting content out there. I know you've been busy, so maybe you haven't seen it, but boy, God, am I passionate about— I do not understand how people don't understand in a small business. I mean, by the way, this was my biggest fight with my father when I joined the business. Business. And I, you know, I, I grew to understand my father. He was incredibly nasty to his employees when I got there, and he only had 10 or 7. It was a small business. I realized in my older age, as I got to know him and went through it for 20 years, in the Soviet Union, that's all they did. They— all they did was— it was just all he knew. It was his culture. And in the Soviet Union, everybody stole because the government owned everything. So everything in Russia was the black market in communism. It was a horrible place to grow up. So I've given my dad a huge pass, and I've also watched him transform. But I love that Dustin, who's filming me right now, gets to go to Wine Library and film Brandon and still get to see my dad in his natural habitat when I'm not around, because he's scared to be fully all the way there. And by the way, that's a 0.01 version of who he was in 1992. I feel like I was parented by my mother in a way that I was going to be a nice person. And I have that DNA, but I think I— oh, you know how sometimes you overreact to what your parents doing? I think, I think I just— it's my obsession to teach people in small businesses to not take their employees for granted and realize they're the foundation of their growth. It's true. Much more, much more than in a corporation. I— it's very true.

I also think it is, and I will say, you know, having ever led teams, Fuck, it's hard. I think it's the hardest thing I ever do every single day. If people are like, what do you need to do this year? What do you look forward to? What is it? It's always talent, talent, talent, talent, people, people, people. Yeah. Um, and you don't understand that when you don't have a business. I remember back in the day, like, when people were like, read this leadership book, I'd be like, I'm broke, what leadership? You know? And then once you start running businesses, you realize it's the only thing that matters is motivating people. Otherwise you can go real far solo.

But, and, and I would argue— and this is society, and this is probably the thing I'm most proud of that I'm trying to do as quote-unquote GaryVee— motivate. And this ties in, but this is a big one. I wonder if you— this will— I hope this brings you value if it's not obvious to you already. And as a true leader, the elimination of fear. And I will tell you, Codie, I'm sure as you keep buying these businesses you'll see it. The amount of people that use fear as the weapon to motivate You know, it's like, if we don't make— and sometimes it might even not— you might not even see it. Like, hey gang, if we don't make it this quarter, you know, we're gonna have to say goodbye to one of our favorite— and you could say it nicely, and it doesn't even seem like— but like, I challenge every leader to see how much fear they're using. And listen, I'm a human being. It's come up sometimes because I wasn't strong enough to keep my own— the fear of the situation out. But it's been my biggest strength, and it's my biggest teaching. And I tell all my direct reports in every company, I don't need a peacetime general. I don't need you to be awesome when it's easy. When the shit hits the fan, I need you to be awesome.

Yeah, it's hard. I think, you know, scared people, uh, scare people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so I think that is—

Codie, where can people find you?

Codie Sanchez on all the interwebs, uh, everywhere. And then, uh, codiesanchez.com is where Main Street Millionaires is too awesome.

Any parting gifts that we didn't get to hit on?

Maybe the only thing is, uh, I wish I had learned a little bit earlier that if you want to make, uh, a lot of, of money, uh, not just in small business but in other places, I think you got to start young. So I'm really glad, Blair. You don't, you don't have to be young to do it, but I love that you speak to a younger generation because I have too many people that say to me, I'm 18, I can't start. I'm 15, I can't.

What And by the way, I'm a, you know, I'm a big advocate in the other direction. You know, I really, I mean, look, Sidney Frank started Grey Goose at 70-something. There's just unlimited examples, and you're actually talking about it. Let me explain how. Back to mentorship and the thing I'm talking about. I actually believe the individuals that are most likely to really do a good job at this were people that right now are listening, are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, who ironically have either finance or legal or operational or marketing backgrounds who are patrons of a business they adore, a baking shop, a car wash. I actually believe that they are far more positioned than an 18, 19, 20, 22-year-old at this nanosecond. I think to your point, listen, having 20 more years to figure it out and then you're actually doing it, bingo. I mean, that's what I am., but I do believe that the 40 to 60-year-old that's listening right now, that's a little bored, that's a little motivated, a mix of the two, that person, I mean, my ideal person is 55-year-old Sarah or Sammy to go in right now motivated as fuck as they're driving right now listening to our podcast together and stopping in at that local store and literally looking at someone they've talked to for 20 years and be like, hey, would you ever sell this? And I know that you're right. I know that a stunning percentage are ready for a partner, a capital infusion, or to fucking— they've been doing it for 31 years and they're just ready to go to fucking Florida.

They want to go to Florida. There's a mass migration to Florida. What I— the only thing I would say for that generation, I don't find— I mean, like, Gen X and above, they're built different. I saw like a great tweet the other day that was like, they drink out of hoses, you know, they're talking Brita filter.

I'm in Gen X. It's my favorite, and you did it earlier. Boomers, millennials, like, we don't even— we're so built different, nobody even remembers the fuck we're around.

Nobody remembers, but you guys are animals. So half the time I don't have to motivate Gen X, to be fair, and I really don't. Boomers, I don't have to really— I just got to tell them. I just got to go, hey, about this thing, and they go, oh yeah, you're not smarter than I am, I could do that. So I, I think the word needs to get out to that crew, but you guys are, are built a little different. You're like Yeah, yeah, just give me the shit.

I don't need your motivations. I never think Gen Z, Millennials, and here comes Gen Alpha, and Gen Beta is being born as we speak for the last 16 days. I just think that they came along when there was so much prosperity and opportunity that subconscious entitlement becomes real. Like, when you— when I was growing up and when I was 18 years old, Codie Sanchez Sanchez Sanchez, the thought of being a millionaire seemed like a rarity. You've got an entire group of 15 to 25-year-olds living life right now, listening to this, who think if you don't become a millionaire, you're a fucking loser. Wow. That's what's going on. I promise you, I read all the fucking DMs. Like, like, it's weird. We— it's just, it's— we're— it's like any empire. The US has been an empire. We've had unprecedented macro prosperity for 70, 80 years. And, you know, kids that are running around right now don't have parents that almost died or died in the war. It's a long time ago. The people that lived through the Great Depression, they're a long ways away now. And so, yeah, we're in prosperity zone. So that's why. Yeah, yeah, you're right.

I mean, my husband's a former Navy SEAL, and you were raised by, you know, a member of the Soviet Union. Like, I do think sometimes those ridiculously hard moments that, like, we gotta almost ask for more of them.

Oh, I, I believe adversity is the foundation of success.

I, I think, I think you're right, you know, and, and sometimes we're not given it. So, well, that's why—

I'm sorry, go ahead. You want to fish?

No, I was just gonna say, when I was in Mexico and I saw, you know, bodies dangling from overpasses, and, you know, and I went to the morgue and I had to go pick out the body parts of women to determine how many of them were killed that day for— as a journalist, Like, I never looked at the world again the same. And so, um, I think some of that forced adversity is fucking really powerful.

Yeah, I love it. Codie Sanchez, congrats on everything.

You're the man. Thank you, Gary. It was so nice to meet you.

Thanks for having me. Main Street Millionaire, go get it. See ya.