This is a brief transcript of a Scott Duffy interview with Gary Vaynerchuk focused on practical advice for entrepreneurs. Gary emphasizes that the biggest mistake is 'disrespecting the market' — assuming entrepreneurs know better than customers — and advocates releasing work, observing market reactions, and iterating. He stresses the importance of surrounding oneself with a cohesive team (likening it to an offensive line supporting a quarterback) and credits a daily practice of gratitude and perspective for sustaining energy and focus.
Chapters
Hi, my name is Scott Duffy with Entrepreneur magazine and S1 Media and I'm here with Gary Vaynerchuk. How you doing, brother?
Super well. Hey everybody.
Awesome. What is the biggest mistake that you see entrepreneurs make today?
This might take the rest of my life. I think disrespecting the market, I really do. It's the theme that's on my mind. I'm just stunned that people think they're more right than the consumer. When the consumer is the judge and the jury and so lack of humility to the customer's needs, I think they get caught up in things like, you know, if I listened to the market, I would have made a faster horse. They compare themselves to like Henry Ford or the guy who created the Porsche or these iconic all time things without realizing that 99.999% of people lose when they disrespect the market. So I would say disrespecting the market.
What'S the balance between kind of the customer thinking about what they need versus delivering them something that's new.
So I'm glad you asked that because actually I wouldn't have clarified this without this question. So first of all, good job. I don't think about the customer when I make products ever or services. It's just that I don't assume going in that it's going to work out. I let it go out into the wild and then I counter punch them. So if I see, oh wait, we've got some opportunity here, let's build on it and iterate. But I'm also very comfortable with putting something out and being like, okay, that's, you know, even though we spent nine and a half months on this program, this product, this service, we were wrong and this is not going to work. So let's get out of this. And so that's the definition.
You know what I love you talking about is the power of the people around you and your personal network in terms of success. Could you share kind of your feelings about that?
Yeah, I mean, I'm flabbergasted that people don't realize that it's more like an offensive line in football. Like, look, I'm an egoed out CEO, leader, personality, but I never for once don't think that the variable of my success is predicated on the 50 to 80 people that are around me. And it's team. You know, I think you do need to have that ego to be the number one. I think it's, you know, using, I'm sticking on sports. The quarterback has to Have a little bit of a different makeup than the rest of the team, but you're not winning unless that rest of the team is clicking. And I think it's the quarterback, head coach, owner, wherever you want to call the top. It's also their job to make everybody inclusive. So I not only have to do my part in driving VaynerMedia and my other things, I have to spend all my other time making sure the other pieces gel. That's a tricky, high energy need, but that is the variable.
What do you do to take care of yourself and give yourself all this energy? Because I think with entrepreneurs, sometimes the last thing they think about is their health. But to keep up with your schedule and have the energy you just did on stage, what do you do?
I hate to give advice on this one because I think I'm a little bit off the spectrum on this. I'm completely driven by gratitude. My answer is perspective. I just can't wrap my head around being a white male in America in 2017 and having the talent I've been gifted with. I'm just. I'm driven by gratitude. And I think that everybody should realize there are almost always. First of all, if you're watching this video, I would then beg to argue, there are billions of people that have it worse than you. So what the hell are you complaining about? Gratitude.
And I think that as entrepreneurs, sometimes we get so focused on the things that aren't working and what we don't have that lack. You know, when you start to be grateful, if once or twice a day, you just start to think about the things that you're grateful for, what happens is you start to realize what you do have. And that abundance changes everything.
Every day that I wake up, if something bad happens, I take my mind and make pretend this is tough, stick with me. That somebody, my family dies, and in two seconds, losing a big account or missing out on opportunity becomes just like if I bought. You know, my great professional goal is to buy the Jets. If I bought the jets today and got a phone call from my sister five times in a row while I was on stage saying I did it, and that phone call led to somebody in my family passing away, that's the worst day of my life, not the best. So why would I act every day any different? And that's how I keep things in perspective.
