Transcript

00:00 You go and get a job you suck you get fired. Everyone's buying your story that the boss me you can come up with a lot of things but entrepreneurs know you. Lost attention is the number one asset. Vayer. Nation thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of podcast. With Friends episode number 15 but I'm here with a bunch of gentlemen which is very nice. I'll let them introduce themselves uh in a second as always big shout out to everybody on Twitch who's tuned in if you want to listen to this podcast in real time and join us and maybe even sneak into the episode when I'm looking over at the screen uh go to twitch.tv/ garbe uh super excited about this episode uh why don't you two guys kind of kick us off and uh why don't all of you take uh two minutes to say hello to everybody and tell everybody what you do cool yeah. So um Justin Smith am a uh I'm a girl Dad I'm a bartender turned business owner. Uh we operate uh six Brands restaurant hospitality company.Uh grew up in Jersey so I'm from Tom rer um half my how old are you. I'm 39. Oh so you're a sweet age. When Tom's Rivers Little League team went hot I uh I pitched against Todd Frasier when they were the beast from the East and they went all the way so my claim the frame you know Beachwood Pine Beach Little League. We were in the same little bracket in districts and they whooped our ass. But did he Crush one off you oh yeah dude. He unreal when he was younger um he a very productive major league baseball player. He was Unreal in his full career that's awesome um up. In jur.Uh grew up in jur uh got into bartending went to college. Um applied all my college towards Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm a BDubs. Fan I love the brand I've been in it for 20 years um and now I'm blessed to own them so uh that that's me and we're sitting here. We so you're a franchisee franchisee of franchise ORS and six different brands yep. So we have Starbucks Arby's Mellow Mushroom Rusty Taco Buffalo Wild Wings and then Buffalo Wild Wings go which is a small takeout spin-off. So we're going all in the Houston. What are the best performing wings at Buffalo honey barbecue by far. Uh. That's cuz everyone's soft that P that that pisses me off to no end honestly. You just summed up why we're in trouble fair not in one answer. Soft I try to best with the hot stuff all man hey uh appreciate you guys uh Chris Alexa. Uh CEO and founder aspired to be Hospitality Group. Justin's our coo um we own and operate six different brands man uh Buffalo Wild Wings where I started well I started with Quiznos uh years ago.I didn't go to college barely graduate from high school. Uh Mom where you grw up in Bowmont Texas outside of Houston and grew up in a in you know in a low. House mom didn't really pay attention to me. She was busy doing other things alcoholic and good mother there. But uh I just learned at one time watching people man and and tried to go to college uh couldn't afford it and there was no pictures in the damn books. Man you know and I was like I got to get out of here and do my own thing was blessed to meet my uh marry my high school sweetheart which we have four kids now um and we uh saved every penny we had and started bought our first. Quiznos begged the bank to to loan me the money and first they said no I didn't accept. No went back 3 months later and said I want it and we saved every penny and we turned that one quiz NOS into 17 restaurants as of today and just signed a DE to do 20 more do you want to say uh two time cancer survivor. Let's go baby yes uh two big battles that caner tried to knock me down but didn't get me and I would even want to shout out. I got two really close friends of mine that are battling for their lives right now once going a shot out to them by that that terrible disease. But that's all me man inspirational. My brother glad to have you guys here uh for the VOR I apologize brother for the VOR. One of the reasons I wanted these guys.Here is like I I really like the franchisee franchise overw world. I sit on the board of Bojangles I actually think long term before I'm all said and done. I'd be surprised if I didn't get around to launching one as a franchise or because I love the franchisee and like there's a really cool variable of franchises being like this they're the coolest version of entrepreneurial I see in the world because it's not full pledge entrepreneur. You're taking the equity from Quiznos or uh. Uh Buffalo wng but almost everything else is there of entrepreneur life and so it's one of the great models of the of the last 100 years in business and so uh I think for a lot of people who are like I'm going to be an entrepreneur and start my own thing. It's it's a lack of uh self-awareness that they're actually really built to crush and build an Empire as a franchisee because they're 89.7% of what is required to be and I don't even put entrepreneur. Playbook already there well there's support I mean like when you start a new hotwing restaurant and you call it Johnny's. There's no demand so there's there's things that come along with it um. But I don't put entrepreneur on a pedestal over franchisee. I put self-awareness on a pedestal. I don't put entrepreneur or franchisee uh over employee yeah. I don't put entrepreneur over policeman or mom over dad like I think we've got the world so confused. Different eras have put different people on different pedestals.I watch people yell at air plane. Pilots for being like 10 minutes late and getting on the plane whereas 40 years earlier people were asking them for autographs cuz. They were the coolest yeah. Just changes you're lucky based than when you're Bor correct when I was growing up how old are you. I'm 50 perfect. I'm 48. Like you know my report cards up there. We're in the same game when we were growing up entrepreneur didn't exist. You had to go to college where you were a loser yeah. My mom wanted to be a flight attendant bad. That's that was like her dream before she see how handsome you are. She probably fit the part but you know the days of two when you're you're 48 I'm 50 and when I was younger I used to really look up to mail men. Too. I thought those are like the coolest people dude man those guys you know work hard. They walk that walk that walk that far now time to change do you think entrepreneur is getting kind of a I don't know b a bad bad look right now because they're so saturated. I think I I think it it got into a PL look. I it got so cool which is so cool to me as someone who grew up being entrepreneurial. But do I believe it's been watered down of course I do because now people much. Like Rappers or athletes it became so cool. Rock stars that everybody wanted to be it but not everyone is good enough to be a professional athlete. Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur and what I don't like about it. It's very I is very emotional to me. I think going for entrepreneurship and failing in it is a very vulnerable mental state because unlik when you get fired from a company you always just blame the boss and everyone's like yeah. The boss was a dick yeah right but when your company fails oh you lost and people struggle with losing in front of people and so if you're not meant to do it and then you go and do it because you know what you're going to do when you're not meant to do it. You talk too much to all your friends like what are you getting a job. You're so stupid. I'm going to build a I'm going to build the next Facebook and then you're 26 and it fails and now you have to face the music and a lot of people don't have the mental strength and they go into very dark places and so I worry about it being cool because it's so merit-based again. I'll say it again. You go and get a job. You suck you get fired everyone's buying your story that the boss me my employees stole. You can come up with a lot of things but entrepreneurs know you. Pain it's like feeling lots of pain and fighting through it. It's so much fun yeah correct like being okaying being okay being. You lose every single day yeah.

07:57 I'm with you on that anyway say hello to everybody tell everybody who hi my name is Vin Manda. Um. I'm originally born and raised in Dubai lived here for 13 years. I'm still waiting for my green cards. If anyone can give me a green card please help me one day you never know what's going to happen. On this. It's true um I'm the co-founder of a copy called blank Street Coffee where we started postco uh. We're an 80s St coffee train mostly UK east coast and uh for lack of a better word we're trying to build the next Starbucks. It's really cool man. It's fun to watch thank you from AF yeah. 80 locations right 80 stores yeah freaking bad and the first one opened when brother. First one opened in August of 2020 uh but the initial business was mobile carts electric cards.Shed um. It is a franchise model though right fully company owns we already tried. We already tried found out. We had a Starbucks. I think I think a lot of people are going to resonate both live and then you know the millions that will listen over the next five years on as this gets strung out like why were if it in as quickly or as concisely it doesn't even have to be quick and why do you feel that you were able to in such a short period of time get that many locations working uh being very honest with you um. When we started. It was Co the like New York was dead. You're just desperate for outdoor experiences so the initial product which was like it's electric battery powered coffee cart. It was so different. It was just so easy to draw customers we just like a green beautiful pistachio cart when all the other carts were like Halal carts propane um and we got very lucky off the back of that. We raised a stupid amount of money and then 3 months so right got it but three months after we raised the money it all failed so we like. Now what but you had the money. But we had the money and as you know and you're being very I love you for being like we got lucky.You got you. Luck is a funny game for anyone who's achieved anything but but what you're absolutely right about is clearly I understand. I think what you're saying which is you know that timing on that is insanity because you know what's going on right. Now money got expensive interest rates are up and you would have never gotten that valuation that money if that was literally happening right now. But on the flip side you had the courage to go on offense during a time where a lot of people wouldn't which is why luck is so interesting to me right. Like many people were sitting and going on a locker timing though it's yeah exactly. I would say that they have a that's those are kissing cousins but I but why I always I think a lot of people weaponize luck yeah on people when they're not getting theirs it against your man yeah exactly so the reason I'm breaking it down.A little bit is cool and I respect that and look I could have been born in an era where the internet was not emerging yeah but then my brain over goes to. But if I was the same human it would have been C I would have been a cable television. Magnet or I would have been like I would have been Ted Turner. Like you know I mean yeah exactly or I sold shata you know like like. If you are you you play in Every Generation the opportunities would have been different I I think it's important to say out loud but you and who you have Partners I one co-founder you and your co-founder have the courage to go on the offense. During a very murky time. We all just lived it and if you were in business and you lived it you you guys definitely knew. Like there was a lot of Defense a lot of thinking.It was you know now when you're starting something new in that environment that takes a lot of guts but cool brother. What's up team. I'm de Lake um man where do I start. I uh I I got sent to Military Academy down in Pennsylvania valy Forge when I was 16 and then kind of been around here. Since in this New York area where where did you grow up. I grew up in New Hampshire yeah. Yeah New Hampshire and Idaho and you got sent there because you were a bad kid kind of my dad passed away so I couldn't they couldn't find structure and they're like you're going to go there and so got tricked into going there. How how old was your dad when you passed 50 suicide. You I was 16 oh so what happened they. They moved in syn. Yeah was crazy so uh that changed my life. That was probably the most I start with that cuz that was the most pivotal point of my life and then you know you got to figure it out. I have four sisters and you know grew up on a farm.I don't know the city but came down here and made the most it um you. Know ended up barar crawling the New York City marathon in 2020. Uh and that was probably the B first big thing I did to you mean by barar crawling barar crawl all fours yeah all fours took me 20 hours. 48 minutes was doing it for suicide prevention and mental health. So uh finished that we ended up raising a million dollars in that 24 hours and then John Cena came in and matched it which was really cool. So now we help veterans transition out of the military into civilian life. About 27 veterans a day take their lives so that's that's a big part of me and I do a lot of to be work so um you know with that. I started a company with my partner Albert uh Farm to Table supplements and so it's called promix nutrition. We do about 50,000 orders a month now after three years and it's doing well man you know our returning customer is there about 80% and I think it goes to show like people want clean ingredients so off of that uh you know the how I was doing the marketing with Community inperson meetups social telling people stories that were taking the supplements it it kind of took off. So I created a marketing company off of that called called and gather which is a smaller version of bayner. But we specifically focus on health and wellness and kind of with all that I uh I tell people I live life for a living.

13:23 I'm uh I'm in the middle of doing the highest point of each continent. So I've summoned highest point in Antarctica Africa South America and in three days I leave to go attempt in Summit Mount. Everest. You you got a you got a yeah what just happened. I don't know it was this morning I was on. I was I was on the farm. This is like when we played in the freaking mass square remember I was getting tackled. Of course. It was insane that's cuz you're very good and most of us weren't and we were trying to find they were tackling. We were trying we were trying to find ways to stop you which was very hard was great though uh uh big shout out to everybody in the chat I see it from the corner Maya exploding all right ma'. We're going to go back around would love to take this in the following Direction. Obviously all of you in very that was very interesting going around the circle would love to know with you two guys and you can both take the mic on it. Uh the thing not the thing that's like keeping you up at night from a negative standpoint. Not let me frame it. In this way not the thing that's got you most anxious or concerned but the thing that's like in your stomach and an itch that you're trying to figure out how to fully scratch so the reverse of what's keeping you up at night. What's keeping you up in the morning me you know like what's that thing right now in currently your mind that you're like e maybe even by me asking the question. It might go from your subconscious to your conscious. The thing that you like want to get to or like uh. I I'll give you mine to give you context. Mine wouldn't be something I hadn't done mine was and Des you're going to laugh.It was finally very recently after years. I figured out how to make local ads on social Facebook and Instagram specifically for my dad's liquor store for people to act go to the liquor store. Nice. It was like a nagging you know like you know like maybe like a knot cuz. You're doing it for all these big companies like how can I help exactly and like I just couldn't like it was. It was sitting. There wasn't keeping me up at night. It's not like he was going to go out of business but it was something it was an itch. I wanted to scratch what right now in your business life. Uh you know instead of going super heady with it in your business life or you can go heady with it. Uh is an itch you're trying to scratch or something you're trying to figure out or something you're excited about like finally completing. So uh it. It's easy for us. So we started a podcast a year and a half ago people bring profits and 20 years experience in the franchise system. We're constantly talking with people about how to open a restaurant or should they take the swing or should they try it and how do. They get engaged and all of the things that it takes to start a business and the the itch is. We're just sitting having conversations of how that went for us through building our restaurants for who to talk to how to you know all of that Playbook that you say the franchisor gives us given those nuggets to people um and figuring out ways to get it to a broader audience is something that's been um the itch that I think about in the morning because we're constantly talking about people go man that content's great we love it. We learn so much I'm I'm doing this how to grow the audience of it how to gr the how to make the podcast bigger yeah that's exciting to you makesense. I think you know on top of that just what Justin just said the itch that I have is the same thing and we had this conversation before you started. You know the CEO of the company you know. I'm I'm you know we de signed to do do to do 20 new stores. So I'm focused on growth but then I have to put myself back in operations right cuz remind me. You said you have 19 right. Now. We have 17 stores open and you decided to add 20 yeah.We started we're opening two a year. We've been doing that we've been doing that but now at 17 I mean it first started out me and my wife. You know then I brought this guy on. Then we brought te now we have a and we have a staff about 10 leaders in our office that run the stores and regional managers. But when I pulled away and we want to give back man we do I do a lot of give back shout out to you my. Wife's. Uh mother committed suicide when she was young and I remember it happened in eth grade and I was in class with her when she found out. It's terrible but shout out to you for doing what you're doing for that. It's amazing um because I know the struggle she goes through but yeah. It's. It's. It's part of it.We try to give back but then when I pull away from operations things start to fall a little bit. So it's a balancing act right. So we want to do the podcast. We have so much stuff that we want to do out there but then when when he pulls way and we got to do two podcasts. We're shooting this week well then something happens to schol. Those are two and a like. There's only 24 hours like I said you got a hard stop man and you got a family to raise. I got four kids. I got a wife you know to to have a personal relationship everybody who's listening to the podcast what he's referencing is before we went on the air. We were all just chopping it up getting ready and I was kind of pseudo apologizing that when they all sat down I was still on my laptop just trying to get one more thing done. But I was also explaining to them that like I'm in this place right now where unlike the Gary ve that everybody saw from 2015 to 2020 where I was traveling so much doing a lot of public speaking doing a lot of networking doing a lot of things while I was running Vayner media postco Vayner media and Vayner X the company that holds all the companies is three times. Bigger. Vriends is now a monster company that I have deep passion to make a Pokemon Marvel likee business that in itself could take up 24 hours a day for the next 50 years of my life and still probably fall short of my ambitions for it. I own a pickle. Ball team now I have this I have I have a fund there. There's constantly everything and what I was saying to them is. I'm. I'm being challenged to make content the way I want to because and you and twitch you all know this. You see it every day. I'm just sitting here. Hours so you know I think I I couldn't understand you more you're trying to do the right thing on give back and brand building. You're no dummy you didn't get here by accident. You know the podcast is lead gen and other things maybe all the franchisees of your future franchise or right that's a natural thing I would be thinking about at your level. But now you decided to double down and double yeah and like that's going to get you back to some of the dirt work. But then you got to get in there and and high five of your employees. You got to check on your stores and then I mean if you remember from our last podcast that we had your guest on you challenged me to do my own brand. So that's in my brain too right. Noti notice I just brought it. I just brought it up again.It's itch of course because like look once you achieve goals and gez you two like all all of you us included brother. We're young enough that we're going to achieve certain goals and have and set new ones yeah and by the way that new one may be the extreme of giving back and completely not being entrepreneurial that one might be burnt out from giving and building and actually take a decade on just yourself. Like I I have wild extreme versions of how it's going to play out for me either. It's going to be this to the end and I talk about that publicly a lot like I don't see a scenario where I'm not working. Cuz. Work is my Play but I'm very open to just waking up at 63 one day and be like you know what I'm just going to garage sale on the weekends and Monday through Friday hang out with my family and like I'm going to take up golf even though I didn't never wanted to and or I'll play pickle or I'll play basket like I'm open to either extreme. Those are like two total polar oppos and that's me and that's me. I know one thing that's always worked for me is I don't have a middle right. School wasn't for me D's and Fs I had the intellect I could have figured out. I could have done homework. I chose not to what I do now extreme the other way true hard work all the way. But that's because I like the reason I even noticed that and the reason I'm like pumped about. This is I like the work oh yeah. I don't like the trophies. I don't like I'm fine with the accolades being put on a pedestal when entrepreneurship is cool money. I'm fine with it. Boy is it not my passion. My passion is the process I'm totally cool. I am totally cool and I tell people this like man if everything was taken away from me and I fell on my face right. Now I'd still be man. I still got I still got my skin I I'm good. I still have my body. I my head.It's called perspective. I'm good. It's called perspective take everything away that actually might Jack me up a little bit. More you know what I mean think so too. I understand my friend. It's it's yeah. It's a struggle yeah. I get it and and honestly it's a blessing. It is. It's one way to position it and I agree I was just saying it. It's a struggle the other is could you believe that you got to live. A life could you given from where you come from oh heck. No could you imagine if I rolled on SE up on seventh grade you and said let me tell you what your headache is at 50.

21:55 You're about to double up your 17 19 locations and build 20 more stores and you're debating the balance of having a wife that you is going to be the girl. The girl in your class that you like yeah that's going to be your wife. You're have four children you're going to have 20 17 stores and you're going to do 20 more and you're debating if you should do podcast like you're going to be like what the are you talking about Gary ve you would have paid anything for and that's what I that's back to what you're saying I always say do not complain about beds. You created that you dreamed of you asked for it. I do I do want to say that that I do my wife and everybody picks me at the office. I I complain about it right now and kind of internally in head but out loud. I don't I live like you said I live the best life. My wife said how do you live up there in the unicorn and unicorn and rainbow world. I said cuz I love it up there. That's where I enjoy to stay even in the negatives like you said I don't focus on trophies. Man I focus on my losses that one football game that I lost in Little League football. I go watch that game and see what mistake I made yeah why do think I love Jess and Nick so much. I love the losing all right brother.What's what what's the itch you want to scratch this question. What's on your when you heard me asking that of them and you knew you'd have a few more seconds to think while they were talking what popped up. So. I've had this really scary fear that I my goal is way too high. I know I'm not going to ever get there um and it's being accepting that that's like it's not possible to get to that goal and still being happy is that the right answer yeah right. I'm say like. It's. It's it's not like a specific itch. It's just that I know I'm going to never achieve what I want are you in a similar place like me that that is like exciting yeah yeah cuz like when I came up with I want to buy the New York Jets I was in fourth grade. I don't know if I really even knew what that meant all I knew was maybe unlike you and you I was like starting to realize where my athletic press was which was like I was crafty and I had good hand eye coordination. But I was starting to understand size speed and athleticism and I was like uhoh I don't think I'm going to play in the National Football League. Big shout out to wail Shaw and David Johnson Rasheed Courtney in Edison New Jersey. You were the boys that made me realize I might not be going to the league and and but like I when I got older was like oh. This is a big goal yeah uh and then especially last 15 years where the values of sports were you know when I was a kid and had nothing nothing couple. Hundred million seemed more achievable in some ways than what like the acceleration of right. But I'm happy that my silly goal professionally is like so big cuz. It kind of lets me keep playing yeah.I like that yeah but if you never buy the Jets you'll be fine in a way. That's like yeah but you will buy it so yeah and then if I don't like honestly back to like I think a lot I get excited about the day when somebody else buys it. I dream about it a lot I dream a lot about someone else buys it and me making my first piece of content because obviously I'm going to be known for I'm already known for this and just explaining to people like how pumped I am for her whoever bought it and how like two things one I didn't pull it off like I had time I could have invented Facebook. I could have in like like I I wasn't good enough in the scheme of it and that like end cool. But I went for it and I was good enough for a lot of other things and like now. I'll try to buy the Nick like like. I think it's a incred My Hope. Is that it's a tremendous deposit to society if I'm bigger and big enough that a lot of people are affected by me yeah believing that I will and then I don't and then me explaining of how okay that is and why this makes me happy. It might be a positive deposit to a small group of people in the world and so you know. I really want to like I I sit here like what I just said isn't the cop out. Andor the like I want to do it like in an insane way. Yeah like vriends is because of like V friends has so much to do that I want to leave a positive deposit on society through these characters. But I also know that if I build a Pokemon or Marvel I'll get there right like so no I I I love having a huge goal. That's hard yeah and I'm incredibly okay with failing at it. But I'm not okay with not trying. That's awesome yeah all right. So I think recently man as I'm getting my mind ready for Everest.My my my mind has changed a little bit in regards to you know my my businesses are set up. I put CEOs at the farm at you know promix at and gather at the ranch. At you know all these different Ventures I'm in like it's set. It's like things are set up and I think internally what's constantly going my through my mind is this quote for Marcus aelius. The nearer a man comes to a comine. The closer he is to real strength and so I'm constantly trying to be present and calm my mind down. So it's not thinking of 30 different things at once because I had calmness about I want to say six weeks ago at this um. At this thing I did and and it was the coolest thing to you know. I don't I don't want to sound too hippie but like I was staring at a tree and I was like man. I wonder how this bark grows and I was like holy. Dev you're only thinking about this bark right. Now you're not thinking about anything else in life. Like and I a million things going on. But I could be present I and then I talked to my girlfriend I was like nah. I was like I'm talking to you right now.I'm not even thinking about 30 other things. I'm like this is the ultimate. Happiness is having a calm mind so whatever keep me up at night. It doesn't keep me up at at night anymore even before bed if I'm aligning my body my spirit my inner child right who you were before you were 12 and my intellect the brain like what's talking inside. If I can align all those four things. Then it calms my brain down and I can only think about one thing and that's sleeping right and so that's that's what I'm focused on. Lately I think it's a really powerful thing to focus on. It's funny. I always you know obviously the modern man and woman and the way the world is now are talking about the things you're talking about when I was your age. There was no conversation around spirituality or mindset like just you know didn't exist and but it was always so natural. In me. I didn't even have words for it. I just knew that I was like so grateful that like that I didn't care right. I didn't know what stoicism was. I didn't know what mindfulness was. I didn't know what spirituality was. I didn't. I' never heard of these words. I'm so grateful that so many people are talking about these issues. Now. I'm worried that a lot of people talk it but don't live it right yeah like the posturing that I see from so many youngsters that are cold plunging or grounding and or or reading wonderful things and they talk it.But I know them well enough to know they're not living it right that concerns me because that gets into makeup is it just for the is it for the Graham. Is it is this going to be you know just a quick correct or even even tricking themselves. You know the Graham is the obvious first level. The second level that I get more concerned about is doing it for their inner circles and then the third one is the scariest of them. All you're lying to yourself yeah. I'm guilty of that by the way you that my friend. I'm guilty of that yeah.

29:29 No no I've so I it kind of happened because I grew up Hindu yes of course my my parents like preach onto me and I really rejected it for a very long time of um. It's cliche. It's cliche yeah uh and then yeah I did a lot of inner self work last year uh. But it's all gone now uh and I all I did for last year is preach it on to everyone else preaching on to my family teach my my parents about it and kind of reverse back onto them. But I I sto all these things like look you're not going to work out for a week. You mean you mean I apologize you mean that uh as we sit here today you've been unable to sustain that perspective yeah and and you feel like it's just cuz you're busy and you're focused exactly. But every year I add maybe I get 5% closer to that goal so the live. Any this goes back to like a thing. That's what's so fun about the when I dreamed up this concept. I dreamed up this different people different things but like finding like a Common Language within the episode yeah. What's so interesting about what you're talking about right now is the double clicking into that I'm trying to figure out how that state is part of the way one operates meaning meaning there's uh does it translate over to other you're saying actually yes but let me say it. This way that I think May.When when meditation started to gain momentum about six seven 10 years ago in Social Circles. People started asking me like do you meditate and I would say no um. But I would always say especially cuz. I was like happy that who was asking me. I was like I don't but I'm pumped you're starting. I remember very vividly and then and then I would go through it and then out of no you know you know how like you say things that like you're like you're finally like oh my God. I don't even I don't actually even remember the conversation but I remember the feeling of this then for the first time ever. Somebody said do you meditate and I said no but I feel like I'm always meditating. It was you know over a Drinks dinner. I don't remember where I was. But I remember it was about about five or six years ago like halfway through these last 10 years of meditation being out there and it's kind of going to where what you just said. And I don't know how to connect the dots which is why I'm talking it out right now on the podcast. What I want for you is like what I think I might be going on with me which is like in parallel similar to what you said in a different way. You said I'm so pumped that I'm so present and like I'm so here a lot of people talk to me about that being a good thing I do with them because I am that way.It's almost because there's a secondary thing going on with me at all times that there's an operating system of calmness yeah. I genuinely believe I'm meditating at all. It's almost like in I almost I can almost feel it as I'm talking to you all now that I'm talking to myself in the backdrop of around gratitude but is that meditation or Is That Flow State you know I'm not educated enough of what the what's the current definition of Flow State flow state is is when you lose lose a sense of time and you're just in the zone and time passes and you don't even know time is passing and you're doing it and just comes so easily. It's like I would call it understood. I would say I Flow State a lot. It's kind of like how I do things I would say it's an oxygen version of it's. It's a continuous macro Flow State. I like that whatever it is whatever I'm doing but you feel good in a way. That's weird meaning like in a way that like I'm a human being in a way of in nanoc of like in in a way where every time something negative is popping up and I have many of those things.The sustained stress or anxiety is so short compared to what on paper it looks like that's somewhere within definitely within the hour if it's something extreme but usually within the minute. If it's the normal. That people stress about for months. I'm able to get to a place of like this just does not matter and as long as everyone's Health you know I'll use Dad I'm sorry about this. But I'll use something my father will sit and dwell and struggle with something for years. That is that when I am faced with the same exact thing sometimes is about a minute and N seconds and I think about that a lot do you think you fell on your face more than your dad. I think we I think we both probably I I know enough about my dad's childhood to say that we probably fell on our face. I probably fell on my face more. But I had a cheerleader of posit of pure optimism in a mother that coincided with all that losing selling stuff not selling it losing in sports getting bad grades like that's so much losing.I love it so like. It's it's so easy for me to deal with. I also I also will say that in the analogy that I'm using I really genuinely don't value other people's opinions of me without context and I think that gives me a real peace of mind that I wish for others. Yeah I I feel the same way reframing basically what I hear is you you know how to reframe anxiety into excitement cuz generally speaking or at least acceptance. I would say not you know like to me. We've lost our way with being comfortable and discomfort. Exactly yeah I I live in that. It's so my dad. Zach your dad he pund these things for hours I could get over things in five minutes but he grew up in absolute poverty like straight up 11 people two bedrooms and he still has these issues yeah like. But he struggled 10x more than anyone. I know my mom and dad both did as well.Soviet Russia was very very poor the pro but what's fascinating to watch them. Both is that my mother's the complete opposite of my dad my mom also lost her mother at five lost her dad to going to jail for 10 years CU. That's how the Soviet Union ran. My father had an adverse childhood. My father lost his dad at 15. My parents grew up in the Soviet Union which is closer to North Korea than it is Iran. You couldn't leave yeah so they both grew up in extreme adversity. But they're incredibly different in their perspective in the world which goes into DNA goes into parenting and goes into many other factors.

35:41 Let me ask you a question. Both of you guys which you all of you were talking about you know you go to the pain level right like the discomfort level when you're having meetings about your businesses. I feel like I do this like. I'll hear a negative something I mean the restaurant business. Co hit. All. This negatives that we hear I go to a place it might bug me for like. The pain might last five minutes or the negative but then I go completely ready to fix it in a positive way. You know I don't let it bother. Me. I don't let it itch me. I don't solution oriented. It's like I feel like any entrepreneur. Any business you have to move on a successful one. The reason most people fail is. They don't have that capacity and that's where I see this the the 1centers right that are truly successful. The people that I really watch are those ones that go in those conference rooms and they hear that negative.But they can walk out of there with the POs with their chin up high and their staff looks at him. Their people look at him like holy crap. If he's not worried then. Let's get behind him you know when Co hit us in the business and we talk about that negative. Our team was like looking us like holy crap. What are we going to do. We have to close all our restaurants down go and take out only Buffalo a and all take out really that's going to be hard to do and we we I walked in there and said hey man we got to figure this crap out. It's like Apollo 13. Let's figure it out and let's go. We're going to we're going to be the best best takeout business that Buffalo Wilds could ever offer. You thrive in chaos and thriving chaos and and be obnoxious about it. Dud and our team followed us man they ran with and more importantly like it's very simple. It's a binary game in that scenario like what were you GNA do yeah. You're either going to cry and dwell and go out of business or you going to hack your way into a solution figure it out. That's it that's right. That's the part I tell a lot of people. I'm like you don't understand your reaction to everything is the outcome yeah.If you decide the world's epic. It's a shocking newsletter. How life is how you see it yeah. It's also like expectation versus intention right. If you're expect is to we're going to do $10 million in Revenue. This year or is my intention. We're going to serve the best wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. This year you know so like if your intention is that those stressors are constantly out the window and you're just. Leading life with a you know more present being you know throughout throughout the day and less stressed. The anxiety goes away cuz you're like. We delivered the wings we did 8 million but we still delivered the wings man.This is what gets me into why I spend so much of my content asking people for whom for whom are you living like I believe the reason so many struggle with the things that we're talking about is. They overvalue the opinions of others whether it's their parents whether it's people on stream whether it's their buddy. Whether it's their wife child sweetheart like and I understand that it's a human trait right. My argument is the more you can get out of that behavior the better. This thing gets because my big thing is like my the thing that always came natural to me is like and I used to say it very crassly in my teenage years. When I told my I've been always this person I would when somebody was like. Uh. I was like I remember kids like cry. I was really bad at school and but I had a lot of friends who did decent some really who were trying to really achieve in school and they'd be upset. They'd be like you know you know Keith got an A and I got to be. I'm like. But Keith sucks at whiffle ball like like like and and what I was trying to do what I was trying to do to all. My friends was like and everybody's good and bad at yeah like look at me.I got an F in German but I sold $4,000 worth of baseball cards. This weekend at the Philipsburg ball and I have a funny feeling that's going to work out for me. I can almost guess though this is what goes through my brain from a competitive standpoint. I don't man I'm so man if you if you tell me to what teams what's NFC division this div like I am so bad with this stuff man I am. I'm the worst from a competing standpoint except against myself. I want to make sure I'm competing against Devin from last year and the year before and the year before and I feel like you're very similar to that. Like you don't or do you look at competitors. I don't really look at you know what I'm saying no it's wonderful. I actually have that's very interesting. I have a different variation than where you think I'm going. It was funny when you're saying that I love that about you you're competing with yourself you're not competing with others. I love competing with others. I don't compete with myself. It's one of the reasons I'm not good at the in the gym. I don't give a that I can't believe you know like big shout out. Mike Vante I'm like stunned what I'm doing in the gym. When I tell you I get no joy. He's like so pumped when I do a new. He's like that's a all time. That's a personal best. I'm like I'm like I'm H I'm a I'm happy that I'm like in the G like I'm happy that I'm putting effort into something that doesn't come natural.But when I tell you could give a me vers me love competing against everyone but in a very healthy way similar to the story I just said about this fictional woman that bought the Jets. But if someone beats me I respect them like I I feel like I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi. You know how like he like just was willing to die. He's like. It. I'm not good enough anymore. Darth Vader kill me. That's how I am as an entrepreneur. Like one of the things I most disrespect in capitalism and Entrepreneurship is when the OG lion gets old and then takes his money and starts to change the rules and pay off politicians to change laws to to protect his business cuz. He's not strong anymore. I'm like looking forward to youngsters killing Vayner media cuz. They're just hungrier and they're better Lions I like sports I like when Muhammad Ali like lost to Trevor burbick in 1983 in the Bahamas and nobody even knows that fight existed like and he lost to a very below very solid fighter like as the greatest and like that's cuz. That's how Sports works. That's what I like about competition. I love the game more than I love what the game giv me. Thus I'm willing to lose the game and not be Petty about it. But I love competing so then so then where does you not giving a about others. Opinion come in oh that's just me like to your point. That's where it goes a little bit more with me. I'm not worried about like people being like Gary V friends isn't as good as they like that. That's fine. That's more me being like annoyed that I'm not good enough to make V friends as big as Pokemon right. That's where I'm with myself a little bit. But I still want to. But I do get off very heavily on like the onetoone thing. It's fun yeah. It's a game like I don't know like when people like people demonizing competition over the last 30 years is. Competing yeah. I'm competing. But I would say like I think you know what I was saying. It's more in business like you know I'm not. I'm more competing against myself and my business from last year versus like I mean I see it from a high level what other you know self. That's different. I am a I am prolifer also aware that I have competitors but I spend no time on that right. What I'm saying that's different I I interpreted that different I think it's very healthy. I think a lot of entrepreneurs get up by spending all their energy on another entrepreneur or company in their sector. I'm very you're right that I'm the same way. But I do enjoy competing heavily in business yeah yeah all day.

43:02 What else CS yeah open up a pack. Let's do a card uh card segment time thank you dust uh open up. A pack of be friends look at the cards. Yep look at the cards and pick nope we're going to do something different. I want you to look at the cards and look at which character more most relates to you and then I'm going to ask you to pick one. Cate one of the characters. I'm going to go here today and I'm going to ask you why mhm. I like the thought going into this you ready. I know the word well go ahead which is which is which character are you most going with I'm going gracious Goose because of the gracious part or the goose part the gracious part. I'm a grizly vf1. Holder obsessed with graciousness um listening to y'all too I gave up alcohol 12 years ago and I'm obsessed with the accountable ant so accountability. I think has the ability level everybody up. The story is yet to be told of that word got the shoes on um the the gracious Goose or any form of that. I'm just very you know happy and blessed to be here. I'm a huge fan and vriends is that that Vice for me and the obsession of uh you come into my office. It looks very similar to yours and I love talking about the soft skills and influencing others and getting them um just as bought into these things thank you brother.I'm humbled by that oh yeah. What are you going with bro. I'm going go with the w wild board okay yeah more cuz you're a wild. Bo cuz I'm wild you know. I'm just wide open all the time wild. I'm a wild one you know I just feel like I'm wide open. You know um you know uh. I just feel like. It's you know I'm straight ahead at it. Let's go at it. You know. I'm one that tackles challenges big time and would you say. Controlled. Chaos is a good one. Controlled Chaos in our business oh yeah right because there's no way you have what you have without a level of discipline but you're willing to be raw and entrepreneurial yeah yeah. I think it's it's. It's what was let me ask you a question at 50 yeah. Cuz I love your story so I'll I'll you I'll use me fast to give you to set you up to give a good answer. To this. I had to go through things in my 40s where I had to realize my cryptonite cuz. God things were working and continue to work but my inability to be canderous to people I cared about the world. That's what Gary ve was built on. I was built on cander but on one-on-one. If I cared about you. It was hard for me to deliver negative feedback and it led to a lot of sloppiness in all 30 years of my career. Firing people sloppy resentment towards them them towards me cuz. They would be surprised by the firing cuz I never said anything and then I'm like you're fired. They like what the cuz I wasn't able to give them cander along the way at 50.You know going through everything you've gone through and to build this into this incredible place. You are now what do you think was the hardest lesson for you to learn that you're starting to actually do better. In The Last 5 Years. Anything stand out you know I think with with the past I had you know and years ago and this is what launched me and it took me a while to kind of understand it. You know in 11th grade I I walked into the principal's office and and uh for an issue that happened and I saw my name on this board and I and I looked up at it and I asked I said why's my name on the board and I knew what it said at the top. There's like 50 names. He said we're not talking about that today we're talking about something else and then he we I went back and asked him said I don't know why my name's on the board and he said well. That's the Dropout list and immediately I knew Society was dictating my future and it pissed me off you know. So when I as I built this company. I let that driving force at that point me meaning that was a list of them saying these people will be Dr Dr out you know I didn't have a and so you interpreted that as you guys are making me drop out. You you think I'm going to drop out you you're predicting me to drop out because I didn't come from a good household. I didn't you know I didn't study hard. I didn't get good grades. Uh only reason. I passed is and I graduated two years late man you know 30. I graduated in third grade. I mean graduated 2 years late. I missed had to be held back in third grade cuz. My mom wasn't around so I didn't really get get to go to class. So they held me back and then my senior year they held me back. Cuz I failed English so that was a kind of a driving factor for me so. It took me a long time to figure this out.But I I do this with my team now and I do tell I am gracious now. And I I tell them all you know the day I walk into one of our restaurants and I tell you everything's 100%. It looked perfect. It's the day you want to quit this company yeah because that means i' I've moved on became complacent. I've given up. I said so every day I walk in here. I might find one thing wrong but don't be upset about. It don't be thinking. Chris is too hard on me just understand. I'm trying to drive us to be best. Can I tell you something that's exploded in my company for our success with 200 people. I've told leaders to start using in my subjective opinion before they say things and it has become one of the most wonderful operational things in that I've ever done by you saying to to him literally and you guys have such a you guys are brothers. At this point you've worked so L right but by literally saying Hey brother in my subjective opinion. Like I think the way we're doing. The fountain sodas is completely wrong. There's something profound when a leader says in my subjective opinion that takes a lot of the steam out of it that I have found to be. I mean I'm literally getting Goosebumps like it's a words matter yeah hey in my subjective opinion. It's profound what that's done makes subjetive opinion in my sub. I would use that I hope you do.I'll tell you why cuz it allows us to get our up that's very different to being to a manager like hey in my subjective opinion. I think that sign is going to hurt us. It's like. It's a good leader trait and then and then obviously this is that sign's up. Let's fix that like nicely said is still a mile away from like hey in my subjective opinion that sign's terrible yeah. But it's okay. It is you know what I mean like I like. It's really crazy to hear that it lands yeah. It really does they put their they put their Dukes down. They put the wall down a little bit. You. Our our job is to make people feel safe that's right. The thing is you look like a great God from every camera angle. So you say that yeah thanks brother yeah appreciate you man um. So my answer is a lot less deep than yours uh. But I would when I looked at this. I'm a well-rounded cuz. He looks like the happiest character everyone here yeah. That's right here wow yeah. He is happy so you you went visual. I went visual yeah. It's been fun doing this watching people. Either go visual go with the the word the adjective or go with the character. So you want visual want visual. I love. I also like how all his scores AA skill and stamina are the same cuz. They're all three words for the same thing at you. Good little subtle pickup that a lot of people haven't I I watch everything the Be Friends Community.I've done so many Easter eggs that have never been landed on that's one. It's well-rounded that's why this cor isy. I have uh. I have the bullish Bowl oh man you got got ail you got a foil bro and I got the freaking sweet honey farm. Hey Deon I need that you got you got to give me that that is my that's my character look it look it up on eBay. It's worth a couple bucks make sure cards cards.

50:35 I would say though I like the bullish bull also cuz. I don't I don't follow Trends I like setting Trends and I'm very bullish on that like. I don't if there's a trend I almost like go the other way you know what I mean so. I'm I'm. I'm super bullish on that you protect your creativity on that one of the things I tend to do is. I want to know everything but if it's a trend I'll tend to not go deep on it because I don't want it to affect me fully yeah. I agree and I I live in a little bit of a cocoon and and and that's what I was saying about like the like the NFC like the NFC versus AFC. If you were like Dev what team I have no idea and like that's high level but like that's for celebrity names. That's sport. I just like I kind of in my own head a little bit you know I think it's a good place to be. I think if your own head is a beautiful place. You should live there all day. That's where I'm at that's where I'm at I'm always there anyway. I'm going to I'm going to go with the driven Dragon I I mean empathy eleph. I mean I truly think empathy is my super and I love curiosity and I love being eager. But I'm going driven Dragon today because you know I will say this I like the other day the reason I'm probably doing.It is the other day I'm like you know when like you think something about yourself and then it happens for long enough where you're like proud to your own self with your own self of you're like like you. I don't know how much you guys talk to each other. But I'm like I'm like yeah like like good. It's almost like I walking out of my own body and being like I'm proud that you delivered on what you were telling me. Oh yeah that there's a little bit of that going on with me right now which is like I always thought that like I'm just hungry and like in a healthy way and like I was always curious when I was 20. Knowing that I was going to do what I was going to do like would it go away and like the other day I was just kind of with myself like like literally walking from the Starbucks to my apartment. Three steps I was just like well you're like like my 20 yeah literally. So that's why I think I P I'm not I do that a lot man like and and even if it's small WIS. It doesn't always have to be big wins.It's just like all right d you you. Showed up you. You know you did what you said you were going to do. You took care of this person affir to yourself taken a month off no never. But I can't believe you just said that I said to somebody last night. I flirted with this you've probably heard this from me dust. I've been flirting for a long time with something called and I want to kind of popularize.It called disappear. December disappear December oh whereas if you're someone like me that's pretty actively communicating on the internet forget about consuming cuz. That's most many people who are on just the consuming end have deleted the app for a while detoxed that's common yeah. That's not what I'm saying I'm saying for the millions and millions and millions and millions of people who are now contributing to content yeah. I kind of think there's something very opportunistic about disappear December so I won't I won't take a month off but if I took a month off of producing content yeah to just give myself that kind and I think December is interesting cuz right. You get those 10 days where you're with your or 14 days or you know family or however one rolls. If you're like me me and others that are doing a lot of stuff like good month to do. By the way yeah. The first half of December is very important you're like wrapping up the year setting up. The year you want to kind of enjoy your couple of weeks during the holidays so you're going frantic even if you're buying presents or different. So I don't know it's funny. You said that I've never done that but and I've not been able to call my own Bluff. I've been talking to myself probably five the last seven years in October November. Like this is the year and you know I I think this might end up being the year let's do it. I'm going to hold you to it. Yes. I like it. I'm not the problem is.I don't give a what you all think so like if I if I decide on December 1st like I want to keep posting CL man man anyway thank you boys for being on the show. I wish you well uh where could people find you if they were uh really captivated by some of the things you said all right man. We're on Facebook Instagram. Tik Tok uh Chris uh aspire to be Chris on uh uh in what are we on Instagram. It's all up there um aspire to be group and then uh our our YouTube channels. Our podcast Channel people bring profit people bring profit LinkedIn Justin Smith love it V you have vet media. I like that V media that's interesting why'd you do that uh my friend change is a joke and I just kept it there. Many years ago is that true yeah yeah that's cool so you're at vet media. It's really funny. The my this Instagram handle was used for like a trademark lawsuit wow I got very lucky yeah someone for someone forged something. I said but put V Mena and I never had that unbelievable Deb you could just follow me on Tik Tok. Instagram spell it out because there's a little e v o n l as in Larry e as an Edward V as in Victor E as an Edward S as in Sam Q as in Queen U as an umbrella and e as an Edward Devon Lake and uh I should be standing at the top Mount Everest. In it's about 46 days now be documenting this I'm going be following you watch this man I'll be at the summit man that's the I'm be sending you high FES when you make it brother thank you man ex thanks for listening everybody.New book is coming the followup to jab. Jab. Jab right hook originally called jab jab. Jab left hook but I finally captured what I've been doing for the last 20 years as an entrepreneur as a Creator and influencer as an operator of a marketing company that works with Fortune 5,500 companies and really the punchline of what I'm seeing in society which is day trading attention how to actually build brand and sales in the new social media world. I'm really proud of this book it goes so detailed. It goes macro and micro as I like to roll and so if you've not picked up a copy yet go to Gary ve.com DTA which stands for day trading attention the updated version of the marketing manual for your marketing team definitely if you have a social media person that runs your stuff. You need to get a book for them and definitely the uh marketers in Fortune 500 for your staff and the entrepreneurs and creators and influencers who are trying to build something for themselves. So proud of it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together the manual that we are going to give to everybody when they join Vayner media to read and hopefully the manual to the modern marketing world and especially social media first world day trading attention out. This may 2024 pre-order your copy now.