In this Mentor Me interview, host Evan Carmichael asks serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk to explain what "hustle" really means. Gary defines hustle as the total, unrelenting commitment of energy, time, and emotion toward a passion—squeezing every last drop of the orange. He stresses that hustle is not about bragging or clocking long hours; it’s about aligning daily actions with a clear goal, otherwise the effort is hollow (e.g., trying to lose weight while eating a Big Mac). Gary shares personal anecdotes about his own relentless schedule, the importance of making every minute count, and how he continues to hustle even during holidays. He then addresses why people lose their hustle, listing variables such as losing sight of their North Star, evolving personal priorities, fatigue, or simply not being in tune with why they started. He talks about his own shifting aspirations—from building a wine empire to considering a business school in Haiti, buying the New York Jets for the process, and increasing involvement in philanthropy. Gary advises a “shutdown” retreat: a low‑cost, remote cabin stay for 24‑72 hours to reflect, talk to oneself, and reset. He also discusses the role of rest, sleep, and even sickness, emphasizing that true hustle respects the body’s signals. Finally, he confronts the financial reality of following passion, noting he lost a lot of money early on and recommends building equity and brand after hours, using any spare time wisely. The interview blends motivational storytelling with concrete, sometimes blunt, advice on maintaining and reigniting hustle.
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I made the Mentor Me series because I wanted to spend a little bit more time around super successful entrepreneurs and hopefully have some of their magic dust rub off on us and change the way we think, change our habits, and change the way that we see the world. So today we're going to learn from Gary Vaynerchuk on hustle. Mentor me, Gary.
What I would say hustle is to me is that when you have passion around something, that you are squeezing every last bit of the juice out of the orange, right? To me, hustle is maximizing the energy you're putting into somebody. I'm blown away by people saying that they're hustling and they want to achieve these great things, and then their actions don't match. It's like saying you really want to lose weight while eating a Big Mac, right? So to me, hustle would be putting all put all your effort into achieving the goal at hand, and for me that means making every minute count. Hiring a full-time assistant who is, I mean, Friday night didn't happen because I was hustling like every minute. Like if I miss my 15 minutes to tape the show, I've missed my 15 minutes because there's so much hustle in my day. There's no, you know, there's no like, there's no hanging out. There's no like time where like, If I get to do like one joke with you guys as I'm walking in between meetings, we like find that to be like a rare acquaintance situation, like occurrence, not acquaintance. Hustle is putting it all on the line. Hustle is waking up one day, the day before you die, and realizing you gave it your all into the parenting of your children, the building of your businesses, the philanthropy that you wanted to do. Whatever you define, it's just, you know, all in emotionally and executionally, in theory and strategy and in execution. Hustle is a word to so many people, even to some of my hardcore fans. I'm sorry to call you out, but I follow you like you follow me, and people talk about the hustle, but then you're talking about your 6 o'clock, you know, happy hour drink, or your video game, or this and that, and here we are in the holidays, and everybody's going to their holiday party, and I've got one meeting coming up right now, two meetings after that, reviewing all my email, and so while everybody's drinking some goddamn eggnog Eggnog, I continue the hustle. And so you can say it, or you can do it, but I highly recommend you do both. I feel like I've lost my hustle. Help, what do I do? Adam, anybody who's losing their hustle has a lot of variables, and there's a lot of variables in this episode. This is the variable episode, so there's a lot of context points, it's not just direct answers today. Um, there's, listen, You might not be passionate about your North Star anymore. I've been going through something. Let me actually break some shattering news here. For the first time in my life, I've been thinking about weird things like sabbaticals and building a business school in Haiti for 5 years and like I love, listen, I'm still all about buying the New York Jets. and it's the process of that and the game, but it's amazing for me to be in tune with myself. The maturity, like, as you get older, like, just different, like, my kids are 6 and 3 and they're interesting. Like, it's, they're interesting. And like, you start, you know, I start projecting, what do they look like at 13 and 15? Like, it'd be really cool to like, I don't believe in the school system as much as everybody, like, do I just take them and go do something rogue? Like, just different things, like, you just evolve. And you might have just lost your North Star. The thing that you thought you were going for might not be. It's why I was always happy that I didn't want a million bucks. Or I didn't want fame, or I didn't want a car or a private plane, or all these little things. It was fun to be like, I wanna buy the Jets, and what that always meant to me is I want the process of buying the Jets, which means I get to hustle forever, 'cause that's who I am. Maybe you've lost who you are or what you want, or maybe you've accomplished kind of, or maybe you feel it's achievable. I would be crushed if I thought what I wanted to achieve was super achievable. I mean, it happened to me in the wine business. It's happening at Vayner. As Vayner's becoming a player in the agency world, and we're not like, ugh, now we're like, ugh. And soon we're gonna be like, ugh. Like, you know, like, that's not as fun for me. I like being the underdog. I like the climb, you know? I like that. So maybe that's happened. Maybe you're just tired. I mean, I think one of the things that the New York Jets do for me that nobody understands is those hours. Actually, you just caught something on DailyVee, right? Me talking to Jeff. That was the first time I talked business during a Jets game in 15 years. I looked at my phone at the wrong time. It was a very big thing. And I only spent a second on it. I am escaped and relaxed. And by the way, I didn't care about it. Like, that's how excited, like, those 3, 4 hours of escapism, maybe you need some vacation time. Maybe you need to look at the people around you. Maybe you need a change. Maybe you need to break up with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Like, there's a lot of intense different things that could be happening. Or maybe you can take a step back and really listen to this statement, which is, you've lost your hustle because you really are not in tune to why you're doing it, right? You're just not in tune to what you're doing it. That you're maturing and realizing like a Ferrari or a fat watch or courtside tickets or custom Nikes, I just wanted to show them, you know, is not what you're living for. And so, you know, it's funny, tonight I'm going to the Charity: Water gala. I never thought of myself 10 years ago as somebody who would be so involved in nonprofits, sitting on the board of Pencils of Promise, donating. I was, you know, I was old school. I'm 40, I'm older. Like this new narrative of much better people, and that's what I think you guys all are. A much better generation. I grew up thinking I'll get rich and when I'm old I'll be like giving out money and doing that stuff. So you just evolve, right? And so maybe you like me, like I haven't gone completely like, I don't have enough money, like my kids can give away all the money but I can't, I don't have that luxury yet. But maybe you want to do nonprofit, maybe you want to build schools for Pencils of Promise and we'll take you in Laos. Like maybe you've lost your purpose. So take a good step back, Shut down. Shut down for 24, 48, 72 hours. Go away. Go away like this. This is how I want you to shut down. Go to Airbnb. This is a 2016 way to shut down. Go to Airbnb, find a very remote place, you know, do I have to go? Oh, I'm taping something. Yeah, I'm just wrapping up the show, sorry. Go to Airbnb, find a very remote place that you can get to at a low cost, like a crappy cabin far away on a 4-hour drive where you can just drive 'cause you can, or somebody will drive you there, or hitchhike, I don't give a crap. Lowest cost, furthest away, seclusion, and just be with yourself and start talking to yourself for real. For like, really talk to yourself for real. One of the great things I do with myself is I talk to myself for real. In a real, like, nobody is a harsher critic and a bigger fan of themselves than me. And I think that friction in both directions matters. Hustle is putting it all on the line. Period. Simple. You don't like the way it sounds? 'Cause it's the truth, 'cause you're just not working. Hustle is waking up one day, the day before you die, and realizing you gave it your all into the parenting of your children, the building of your businesses, the philanthropy that you wanted to do. Whatever you define, it's just, you know, all in emotionally and executionally. In theory and strategy and in execution. You know, you don't hustle when you get sick.
In the same way you don't hustle when you get sleep.
You know, we've got that quote card that did really well, right? That quote where I'm like, it's not what you do, you know, it's not how many hours you're awake, it's what you do within them. I'm thrilled to get 6 or 7 hours of sleep. I love when people think I'm a 3 or 4 hour guy. I'll take 8 every night because in those other 16, I will dominate your face. I love people who sleep 4 hours, but like chill, And chilling is like just not doing something important for 40 minutes or like having a conversation on the trading floor for 30 minutes about the big game or what the fuck happened in the Oscars last night.
Who gives a shit?
Execute. And so, by the way, who gives a shit for me? I'm purely focused on my thing. Some people like 30 minutes of talking about the Oscars 'cause it breaks up their day. That's their rest. You do you. But let me say this. When you're sick or when you're sleeping, rest. Your body's telling you something. And so, Weirdly, maybe I was sick once in the last 11 years, and I was pumped.
Let me just say that again, 'cause I don't know if everybody understood that.
I weirdly wish I was sick one day this year. I would really enjoy the time off. I'd enjoy relaxing, and the kids come, you know, Misha comes home at 3, like it'd be fun. It'd be fun. But there's something subconsciously that's really trying to not allow me to do that. In a world where I take 100+ flights, where that place is like, I don't know, I've like, you know, remember how a couple episodes ago I said that the 20 to 30-year-old GaryVee is soft compared to me? That guy did get sick. Now I don't, and I do think it has a lot to do with my focus on it. So I do think you can out-hustle your sickness to some degree, but when you succumb to it, because at some level we all do, I think you need to just relax and enjoy it.
How do you get money to do what you love?
You don't. Right? I lost a shitload of money when I started doing what I loved.
What you do is you position yourself to succeed. So for example, if you're doing something else and you want to do this thing you love, you do it after hours. You work 9 to 6, you get home, you kiss the dog, and you go to town.
Right?
I mean, you start building your equity and your brand and whatever you're trying to accomplish after hours. Everybody has time. Stop watching fucking Lost.
That's a good overheard, right?
That was a good overheard. So, you know what I mean? I mean, if you want this, if you want bling-bling, if you want to buy the Jets, if you want to do shit, work. That's how you get it. That's all I got. There's just nothing else to say.
Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed. I'd love to know what you think. Think of the video, leave it down in the comments below. I will join the discussion. Thanks again for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.
