Entrepreneur GaryVee on the Money Move He's Never Made and Whether He Will Take VaynerX Public 20:29

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I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Money rehab.

Did you guys catch my first interview with Gary Vee? It is a masterclass for anyone hoping to build a social following for business or for pleasure. He told me which platforms he's bullish on now, why you haven't missed TikTok yet, and how to navigate social media anxiety. Today, I'm sharing the second half of our conversation. In this episode, you'll hear Gary talk about his relationship with money. He shares some financial confessionals in a game of Never Have I Ever that really surprised me. Here's part two.

Do you think a lot of your hustle comes from this immigrant mentality that we all share, no matter where your parents came from? Yeah, I think like, you know, for the people that are listening and I think the immigrant mentality slang for like some sort of mix of ambition and really almost like a form of lack of complaining and or a mix of gratitude. There is incredible advantages of being an immigrant in a place of opportunity like America.

There just is. And what I mean by that is there are plenty of seventh generation Americans listening right now that have full accountability, don't complain, tremendous ambition, incredible tenacity. But there's one very big truth in human life, which is it's hard to be hungry when you're fed. And, you know, for me, it's very clear. It's not hard to analyze.

When I was 12 and I wanted things and I had already at the age of 12 entered the zone where my mother felt that she didn't need to buy things for me, that if I wanted them, I should go get it. You can imagine selling lemonade or baseball cards or whatever I had to do. Shoveling snow was a big activity of mine. Washing cars was a big activity of mine. May she rest in peace. I lost a friend that I grew up with, Marissa Bird. Makes me a little emotional, but like,

we fucking, Robbie Turnick, I know you're watching too right now, Andy Greco, my little sister Liz, we fucking hoses on our, like real hoses, not like back when they made them well, like wrapped on our shoulders, like bucket of water, like we grinded because we grew up in an environment where like,

Mommy and daddy were not going to buy you things at Toys R Us. Like if we wanted bazooka from Krauser's, like we needed to find that five cents. And of course that became a humongous advantage. And how did that change the way you dealt with money? Like my family just used cash. I also have found that regardless of where your family's from, nobody used the dishwasher. Did you use the dishwasher? We didn't even have one.

Like, we grew up very, like, just to remind everybody, because I know there's probably a lot of people here watching that don't have a lot of context on me. Like, I was born in the Soviet Union. When we moved to Queens to immigrate to America, we lived in a studio apartment with multiple family members, five, six, seven, depending on what was going on, because there was three studios.

Like we were really poor, not like we weren't lower. Like a lot of people like talk about, Oh, I grew up humbly. And what they're saying, thank God, this is a wonderful thing. We're in a prosperous country. They mean they grew up middle class. Like they didn't have a BMW. Like we grew up like I, now to my dad's credit, we weren't dirt poor for very long. We were dirt poor. And then we moved to Dover in like a little bit better situation. And then we grew that. I mainly grew up in a townhouse in,

in Edison, New Jersey, which was a blue collar, lower middle class neighborhood. And so we didn't have a dishwasher. Like I remember thinking a dishwasher was like, that was status. I remember thinking as old as 14 years old, which would be 1989, I remember thinking that if you had a BMW or a Mercedes,

In my brain, that would be equivalent to the way we look at the Kardashians today. Like private plane, yachts, Elon Musk, Bezos. Like to me, if you had a Mercedes or a BMW, you were filthy, filthy rich. So my relationship with money though is very fascinating in hindsight, which I think, and you'll probably know this better than I, so I'm almost asking you this question. I got really lucky in,

and fortunate that I don't have a relationship with money where I view it as validation. I don't hoard it. I definitely don't weaponize it. I view it as a byproduct of the thing I really love, which is the game. Winning. Winning. But I also love losing. Tell me more.

Well, I think entrepreneurship's interesting to me. Like, I think about this a lot. I love winning, but I equally get great joy in losing. Another great podcast like yours I did where I finally broke it down was Steve Bartlett's podcast. I got a lot of emails about this. I talked about this thing that happens to me. It actually just happened a couple weeks ago where I was still at 48, play pickup basketball, and you shoot for teams, right?

And sometimes if you shoot for teams, instead of just mixing up teams, if there's 10 guys there and you're like, okay, let's make this kind of even, you're tall, you're tall, you guys split, you're good, you're good, you stink, you stink. Like, you know, which is common. We always shoot for teams. And sometimes when you shoot for teams, the teams are obnoxiously lopsided. And I especially get excited when my team is much worse. And I really weirdly like when we lose the first game 11 to 2, right?

Something chemically triggers into me where I get really excited about it. It's kind of like the, it's nothing like too wild other than like, can we have the intestinal fortitude to,

Can we have the chemistry amongst ourselves? Can we be clever or figure something out to somehow now win the next game? And sometimes the teams are very lopsided. You get your ass kicked again. And I just talked about in this podcast how I get enjoyment out of that. And it's similar to business. I don't get devastated when agendas, investments, concepts, strategies, or even companies I start fail. I view it as success.

that's the price of admission. I don't feel entitled that because I have been historically successful, that I'm allowed to be successful in the next thing I do. And weirdly, I like when I fail because it allows me to talk to myself of like this fun relationship of like, see big shot, like this fucking game doesn't give a fuck about you. This is real merit shit. And you weren't good enough. I like that. It's kind of like the podcast ratings.

I've been doing it for a long time and it ebbs and flows, right? When I heard there was an opportunity to do the show with you, I was pumped because we hadn't seen each other in a while. And then, you know, during that process, I was like, and I got to see how well this show is doing. And that makes me so happy for you. What I liked about that was when I looked at it, that was the first time I'd looked in a long time. And I got to see a lot of people that have been doing it for a long time and a lot of people that are merging. And you see, and you know this because you do this for a living, over the last 10 years, there's been like just a lot of ebbs and flows. Like,

Like there was multiple years where my podcast was in the top 100 consistently overall. That is not where I am now. And I think I deserve that because I know that I'm not putting everything into my podcast right now because I'm putting into other things. I like that. I just, I feel like you do deserve to be where you are and you're right. Cause you're doing it. And I don't know. I'm obsessed with merits. I love sports.

Like you could talk anything you want, but they're going to play tonight. A tennis match is going to happen. A basketball game is going to happen and everybody can talk, but the game's going to play out and game's going to be the game. And business is the closest thing to that. I like that there's merit in it and I don't want to only like the game for what I get out of it. I want to love the game for the game.

And then because that's my obsession, yes, I got fortunate. My passion wasn't painting. It wasn't singing. It wasn't gardening or golfing. My passion was entrepreneurship. The byproduct, if you're good at that, is there is economic upside. No different, by the way, than if you're a remarkable athlete or actress or things of that nature. But I find a lot of people that grow up with little become overly obsessive and have a very unhealthy relationship with money.

They use it as a makeup or a bandaid to close up feelings that they had from that era. I grew up in a very fortunate environment, which was we didn't have a lot of money, but I was happy all the time because my mother was such a supernova. Right. So I was one of those lucky people who learned that money isn't the anecdote to happiness. Right.

And I actually believe the people that are most happy in the world are the ones who don't grow up with a lot and grew up with extreme happiness because they're taught from day one, there is no correlation to happiness and money. And I'm very grateful for that. Well, thank you for the kind words for the show. You've always been super kind. I've always thought from that moment to this second and every moment in between, because I love watching the game, the world, people, things,

You're very tenacious. You're very talented. It always made sense to me why you would have wins. Back at you. Hold on to your wallets. Money Rehab will be right back. Between summer vacations and going to the beach and having the hot girl or guy summer of your dreams, this is Money Rehab.

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Feels like progress.

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Public is the brokerage I use for all my investing needs, whether I'm looking for stocks, ETFs, a high-yield cash account, options, and other assets, even music royalties. To build the multi-asset portfolio of your dreams, go to public.com slash money rehab. One more time, because trust, you will thank me, public.com slash money rehab. This is a paid endorsement for public investing. Full disclosures and conditions can be found in the podcast description. And now for some more money rehab. Will we see Vayner go public?

Probably not. I'm too focused on not having to worry about the short term. I think the biggest reason I will never be a public CEO is I have no interest in appeasing people that think it's interesting to judge businesses in every 90 day window. It's also a pain in the ass. Yeah, it's also stupid. Like when you're running a marathon, let me rephrase, that's not fair. It's stupid for someone like me who wants to do the game in perpetuity.

If I'm playing in perpetuity, why would I succumb myself to something that is a short-term game? If you're a marathon runner, you don't do the 100-yard dash. So I think private is so fun. I get to have bad years. Last year wasn't a good year for Vayner, meaning it was a great year, but I should have made a lot more profit. But I just decided to go in for the jugular.

And I'm investing like crazy and I invested like crazy and so we made a lot less profit last year than let's say the street would have wanted me to. And I have no interest, Nicole, to sit in front of fucking people and be like, all right everybody, let me tell you why my stock is gonna go down this year.

because I'm building this forever and I'm gonna hire more people and advance my best people. Like, do you know how crazy that is? Like, watching public CEOs pander to hedge funds or analysts who are fucking Excel jockeys on what they're gonna do for the next 90 days or this year. Like, business is so simple. You're either extracting out profit or you're investing back into your business. Like, I don't...

I feel like you and I are old school. This is what happens when your parents are immigrants. It's like, I just believe at the end of the day, you run a profitable business. Period. The end. You make money. Or if you're really building a great business, when everyone was razzing, I'd only bought a couple public stocks in my life. And one was Amazon 100 years ago. Because it was just very clear to me, Jeff Bezos was going for the jugular. Right?

He gave a fuck about customers and he was reinvesting in his business and they were shitting on him. Like I would have CNBC in the background and people like, you're not profitable. Tell us why. Like what? Like what? How? You don't need a lot of brainpower to understand they were going for the jugular. It's one thing to waste money. It's another thing that you're losing market share because someone's outflanking you. But there's just such clear indication that some people are going for the long term.

And I think I would struggle as a public CEO. I don't think I'd be good. - I agree. - I'd be fired real fast. I would be smart and probably not give the board any opportunity to fire me, but I wouldn't enjoy it. Because I might not give a fuck if my stock went from 52 to $3.09, but Dustin would. And that would be pressure on me. It would be hard for me to feel bad

Because, you know, people would be like, yeah, because people like, so I just don't think I do well at it. Can we do a little game? I'm always up for a game. All right. So we're going to play a game of financial. Never have I ever. Okay. Remind me how I have to play this. Never have. Okay. So drink if you have done something. Drink if I've done it. Yes. Got it. Never have I ever split the check on a first date. Never drink if I've done it. Split the check on a first date. Don't drink. No.

No way. You're such a mess. Leased a car. Leased a car? Yeah. If I've leased a car. Yeah, yeah. Only. Fought with a significant other about money. I fought with my dad. You mean like a spouse or like a family? Significant other? Oh, definitely not. No. Gambled in Vegas. Oh, yeah. Spent $1,000 on a bottle of wine. If I've done it, yes. I think I have. It was good wine. It's good wine. Overdrafted. My money? No. No.

I'm an immigrant. Like, we don't even, like, we don't fuck with that. My dad didn't even accept, forget about him having a credit card. This is so fucking insane. You want to talk about being propaganda? Sasha. Sasha not only did not have a credit card, like when normal people did in the early 90s, our store was,

When I started working at Shoppers Discount Liquors, did not accept credit cards. Wow. Cash, check. And now do they accept crypto? Yes. I mean, the world, you know, I was like, add, like, because I would be at the register and people would like leave. This was like 1993. People would like leave this. They would only have a credit card even then. They would like leave. Remember checks? Never have I ever disputed a charge on a credit card.

If I've disputed a charge on credit card, I got to drink. This is something that's going to make everybody... I want to be transparent on this podcast. I'm not going to drink, but I view this as a weakness of mine. This is because I don't look at my credit card statements my whole life. I'm sure I've been charged for shit. Do you need some running rehab, Garrett? Yeah, well, listen, here's the thing on that. I...

I'm so offense, bad at defense. Like to your point, that's, I prefaced it by like, please, if you're watching, that's not a cool, I'm not cool. That's wrong. But I did it the majority of my life. And then I got to a level of wealth where I have my financial team around me and they're doing it for me. So I'm good, but I've never done it. Never have I ever invested in a company that went bankrupt. The majority of the companies I invested in went bankrupt. Never have I ever invested in a company that became a unicorn.

So if I've done it... Yeah, drink, drink, chug. Never have I ever felt like I had enough. If I felt like I had enough, then I drink. Oh, I can drink the whole bottle. This is the best part about how my life works. I am uncomfortably ambitious, comma. And also. And also. I have always been satisfied. It's really cool. It is...

- You know, Nicole, it's funny. That just really hit me in my chest. I really do feel guilt of how lucky I am of how I'm wired. And I do believe most of what GaryVee is, is me trying to give back out of some way to deal with the fact that it really broke for me. And I don't mean financially.

You met me when I was far from what I am now and you remember how lucky and happy I was. And I knew people, there's so many people in my life that knew me 10 years before that and 10 years before that. It's always been there. I've always been deeply satisfied while equally obnoxiously hungry. And that's a great place, you know? L'chaim. L'chaim.

Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes.

Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions, moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at moneynews and TikTok at moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.

Money Rehabbers, you have money hidden in your house. Yeah, just hiding there in plain sight. Okay, so I don't mean you have gold bars hidden somewhere in walls, treasure map style, but you do have a money-making opportunity that you're just leaving on the table if you're not hosting on Airbnb. It's one of my all-time favorite side hustles. By hosting your space, you are monetizing what you already own. It doesn't get easier than that. For me, hosting on Airbnb has always been a no-brainer. When I first signed up, I remember thinking to myself, "Self, you pay a lot of money for your house."

It is time that house returned the favor. And to get real with you for a sec, I felt so much guilt before treating myself on vacation because traveling can be so expensive. But since hosting on Airbnb, I feel zero stress for treating myself to a much needed vacation because having Airbnb guests stay at my house when I'm traveling helps offset the cost of my travel. So it's such a win-win. I mean, if I could do it...

you could do it. And your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Money Rehabbers, you have money hidden in your house. Yeah, just hiding there in plain sight. Okay, so I don't mean you have gold bars hidden somewhere in walls, treasure map style, but you do have a money-making opportunity that you're just leaving on the table if you're not hosting on Airbnb.

It's one of my all-time favorite side hustles. By hosting your space, you are monetizing what you already own. It doesn't get easier than that. For me, hosting on Airbnb has always been a no-brainer. When I first signed up, I remember thinking to myself, self, you pay a lot of money for your house. It is

that house returned the favor. And to get real with you for a sec, I felt so much guilt before treating myself on vacation because traveling can be so expensive. But since hosting on Airbnb, I feel zero stress for treating myself to a much needed vacation because having Airbnb guests stay at my house when I'm traveling helps offset the cost of my travel. So it's such a win-win. I mean, if I could do it, you could do it. And your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host.