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Almost everybody right now has an
uncomfortably high percentage likelihood
of going viral if they post every day.
But there is a second part, the
monetization. Yes, 1% of the people
listening now are going to get to be a
big enough creator that brand deals
actually come in. 99% can build a tech
stack that can make them between 7 and
70,000 in a year.
>> Yeah, it's all about just finding your
people. That's just what it is, right?
Every human being on Earth should use
Stan. Everybody should use social for
this reason and everyone should have the
tech stack to be prepared because the
viral moment right now does not
monetize. The guest I have today is a
young gentleman. I don't know how much
of a gentleman we'll figure it out. A
young man for sure at least. Uh that um
I've gotten to know over the last half a
year uh and has built a really
interesting company in a place that I
have a lot of passion for. This is an
unusual one because AJ and I have spent
a lot of time with John over the last
several months and have really gotten
involved in this business and when we
first met um you know John said you know
I really want to help you buy the Jets
which is really interesting because
I don't know if I've heard that more
than people saying hello to me in real
life. So like that part never really
registers for me. It it sets up people's
ambition. A lot of times people use it
as a lever to try to capture my
attention. But that wasn't what was
interesting. What was interesting is
what transpired over the course of the
combo is,
and I said this to him at the time, I
said, "Huh, this could happen." And and
it it's really interesting, and I want
to really set this up. It's also
catching me at a time where I really
don't want to overpromise and underdel,
but at the same token, I want to get
involved in more businesses in a way
that I can impact them because the scale
of the 15 years of trying to build out
Vayner X and my brand is in a place
where those opportunities exist. Here's
where it gets really exciting for me and
why I'm setting it up this way. A
stunning percentage of my audience
should use this service. And as you can
imagine for all of you, if that's true,
that wasn't like, oh, that's why I want
to get involved because I can get so
much of my audience there. A stunning
percentage of my audience here needs to
wear underwear,
right? Like doesn't mean like, oh, well,
let me go be a get very deeply involved
in a startup and own a meaningful
percentage and and go and sell all that
underwear.
What excited me is that a meaningful
percentage of my audience needs to use
Stan like that. It has been built this
stack and I'm going to let John get a
lot of the floor over this podcast at a
cost structure that feels incredibly
obvious to me. And as we kept digging
and then more importantly, you know,
when I look behind myself, if you're
listening I and especially if you're a
follower, you know, I always point to my
stock certificates about Facebook,
Twitter, Tumblr. I try to make this very
clear to people. All three of those
companies were not a deck and an idea. I
did not angel invest in those companies.
They were further along and they were
obvious. And I think there's an element
to stand in that category as well. This
is not John meeting me and being like,
"Hey Gary, I grew up on your content.
I'm this well educated kid and I have
this very good idea and I've like and I
would meet and now that I gotten to know
him, I would have met him and I would
have been like, "Oh, this kid's [ __ ]
got that thing in the stomach." But, you
know, to be frank, over the course of 15
years, that kid has lost plenty of
times, too. As much as the kids I make
fun of that are Ivy League, he's both.
But you know like um anyway
the company's far along which allows me
to understand how many people are
already getting benefit from it and this
is like the most fun part the Gary Vee
brand the Vayner X machine where me and
AJ are in our careers the infrastructure
Victoria like all the things that are
happening in my world are culminating
and I guess it's a big opening rant to
say
even though I started this podcast with
making it potentially obvious that Stan
is an anomaly I actually think Stan in a
lot of ways for my next 20 years could
be the preview.
You know, this is very important to me
and I want to put a lot of effort and
oomph behind trying to help John and
some of the other great people that are
getting involved in this business to
build a meaningful business because if I
can prove it to myself,
then I can learn from this next 36 to 48
months and what impact I and the Vayner
X machine and the broader Gary Vee
ecosystem can do to this business. It'll
give me the confidence to do it again.
And again, I'm making this podcast for
my entire audience. There's a lot of you
that are in different parts of your
career where you feel like you can
create opportunity for yourself because
of what you've already built. I
thoughtfully at some point, not day one,
I don't want to rewrite history, but
somewhere pretty early on, I realized
Vayner X can be the operating system to
everything I do for the rest of my life.
Gary Vee can be the operating system,
the personal brand for everything. This
is the most meaningful attempt I'm going
to take at that. And so I'm really
excited. I want to be very like that was
really fun for me to do. I don't do a
lot of content like this. That was
really fun. I think that sets up the
rest of this conversation. And I'm sure
all of you are like very tired of me
ranting on one breath right now and are
probably curious to get to know John a
little bit and understand why I feel it
this way. What's going on? What is Stan?
And that's where you are, my friend.
Lovely. Well, Gary, what I'd summarize
for your audience is the mission of
stand is really simple. It's to empower
anyone to work for themselves. And
literally what that is, because you're
saying a significant portion of your
audience could benefit from stand. And I
wholeheartedly believe that is Stan is
everything you need to start a business.
It's the simplest and easiest way. So
whether you need a website, you need to
horse a course, you need to host a
community, charge a subscription, charge
for a service, build your online
business, Stan does all of that for just
$29 per month. And the reason why we
exist is because I started out on this
journey inspired by you way back in the
day. Just a kid posting on TikTok really
cringey dance videos and realized that I
loved it.
>> Are you good at dancing?
>> I'm awful at dancing. But it doesn't
matter cuz it's about trying and getting
past your emotional dis.
>> But did did you do the dance videos cuz
you thought that would get you viral cuz
we were in that era.
>> Exactly. It was like peak co where we
are all locked in like doom scrolling
TikTok. But I was dancing specifically
with an intention which was once again
it's a Gary Vo of give give. I was
watching all these folks create content.
I was like what's some sort of value I
could add in this world and for me that
was my story as immigrant kid single mom
grew up in the south. Uh did all things
>> where I don't remember that North
Carolina. What town?
>> Uh Charlotte just north of Charlotte
right. So
>> but not Charlotte. The greater Charlotte
area.
>> Greater Charlotte suburbs.
>> Let's what's the name of I want to give
this North Carolina.
>> I want to give it a big sh I mean
somebody right now just yelled.
>> Really? Yeah, cuz somebody's listening
from there. They're walking their dog
like, "Yo, what's up?" You know, like,
"Yeah, let's make sure."
>> By the way, can we make can this also be
an important moment
>> in human society? Can we no longer talk
about the big city? Like when people are
like, "I'm from Buffalo." I'm like, "No,
you're not." Cuz first of all, [ __ ]
Buffalo. I hate the Bills. But you're
like from 12 minutes outside of Buffalo
and some random name town and we need to
start giving these little tiny towns
more love. So that was a good moment for
me. I'm glad we had that moment. Keep
going. Well, shout out Cornelius, North
Carolina.
>> Cornelius, stand the [ __ ] up, Cornelius.
>> Stand the [ __ ] up. 704.
>> Yes.
>> But but I grew up in a place where like
we didn't have much. And very candly,
>> by the way, I apologize. I I don't want
to do this. I want to give you room, but
I'm definitely clipping that and running
it against the town.
>> Heck yeah.
>> I I really like back to like targeted
ads, we're running that. So,
>> I love that. Well, I mean, I grew up in
a place like if you know anything about
Cornelius or Charlotte, North Carolina
at the time in the early 2000s, like no
one looked like me, right? And so the
reason that that matters in the story is
just cuz we're all in society told to
fit in in some way. Yeah.
>> And so for me as an Asian-American kid
in the South, everything in my life,
whether it was my mom culturally and the
pressures we had there to perform or
just broader society, like to fit in and
quote unquote be accepted, you had to do
a certain path, right? So I went to
undergrad. I took on student loans. I
then thought I was the biggest shot
ever. I was here in New York cuz I cold
call my own a job at Goldman Sachs in
investment banking. Like from nothing.
Point being is I thought I had made it
right. I'd done the path. And
admittedly, hopefully not too many
people here are in finance at, you know,
a 12 to 12 job in finance right now. But
you get there, you think you're hot [ __ ]
and you realize like,
>> well, especially Goldman. Yes. You're
like on the [ __ ] Yankees. You're on
like, you know, like, you know, that's
like big big stuff. Especially, and by
the way, when I just heard that, I'm
like, makes sense because
>> the Goldman kids that really become the
ones that run the whole [ __ ] are not the
ones that are like the Excel, like the
math. They're always the kid that Cole
called their way in and probably didn't
belong there. And that's why they that's
why kudos to Goldman and other places.
They know that they need 5% of the
people that are just like burning down
the place to get in. And they kiss a lot
of frogs. I do the same thing. Like for
all the people that have worked out for
me, they're for every Drock or Andy or
like all the Huxster kids that walked in
or random tweet or whatever, 80% are
actually disasters.
I always make fun of my team because
when I'm like, "Hey, I met this kid
outside. You have to interview him like
literally outside. They're always like,
"What the fuck?" And then I'm like I'm
like, "Fuck you, [ __ ] I met you
outside, too." Like they forget where
they came from. Anyway, keep going. I
love that. Well, I was that kid, right?
And I thought I'd made it cuz you're,
you know, you're brash and you're young.
You're like, "Oh, I'm a hot shot at Gold
Coleman." You get there and you realize
like a lot of people that you work for
and look like or above you, you don't
really want their life, right? They're
working 24/7. They're not close to their
family. In fact, they're yelling at
their spouse on the phone right next to
you and you're like, "What? I'm just
trying to get edits on a deck." Um, all
that to be said is I'd done the
conventional path and that's the context
in which I started consuming your
content. It was the depths of co and I
was doom scrolling and I was like I
don't want to go back to corporate. So
this creator economy thing is really
interesting.
>> So in co real quick just for context you
were still at Goldman.
>> Uh I was at Stanford business school at
the time. So I had gone off cuz I had
done the golden path. I was like oh at
Goldman like oh I'm not I'm so
miserable. I just need a better job. So
I wanted to do an even better job at a
top VC firm in SF. That was like the
dream as a kid right? And then I went
for Stanford. That is like the like my
mom's American immigrant dream manifest
>> 100%.
>> Point being I had done all like I did
all the stamps of approval.
>> Like does she have a Stanford sticker on
her car?
>> I mean truly she's still so upset at me
to this day for not graduating.
>> Yeah, of course.
>> I'm like mom I got in. That's the thing
that matters.
>> You're like mom stands like a real
company. She's like I don't give a [ __ ]
You
>> still don't understand what I do. But
she's like I want you to get that grad
school degree.
>> Um but it was in that moment I was like
what kind of value could I add to this
world? And so I started making cheesy
dance videos but in the context of
career coaching specifically. How do you
as your as an underrepresented kid get
your first dream job? Cuz that was just
my story. And so
>> it was real to you.
>> Yes.
>> And you knew that there was a lot of
kids that looked like you or in cultures
similar Indian, Eastern European,
whatever it would be that were feeling
that same pressure and that [ __ ] on a
bad day 50% of them were dying inside.
>> Yes.
>> I always say like for the doctor,
lawyer, you know, engineer crew, India,
Asia, Eastern Europe, like that where
it's Nigeria, that real culture.
>> Yeah.
on a good day can only be 50% that are
actually like, "Oh, I love this. I love
being a doctor. I love being a lawyer."
Which is amazing. But on a good day,
it's 50%. Which means literally 50% of
the people that are being pressured in
that immigrant culture that puts that on
a pedestal cuz there's different
immigrant cultures that are more
entrepreneurial or more, you know, into
music and the arts. But the cultures
that really push the lawyer, doctor,
engineer thing, you know, Ivy League
school, that whole thing, 50% of those
[ __ ] kids are dying inside.
>> Yeah. And we're seeing them now take an
alternative path because of Stan, right?
Cuz we're all realizing, and this is
what you've been preaching like almost
15 years too early. You've just been on
the trend since 2010 and even earlier is
like we're all realizing there's a
different path
>> cuz there's optionality.
>> Yes. What I understood in 200 when I
wrote Crush It, what I understood was
like this internet thing creates actual
optionality.
>> Yes.
>> No internet, forget about AI and social
media. No internet, no options.
It created unlimited inventory in a real
estate term.
It created unlimited real estate to
build.
>> Yes.
>> Unlimited.
>> Yes.
>> And that changed everything.
>> Yes. And so that's the context in which
I found myself, which was like I was
making content about how to get your
first dream job, which was just like I
got thousands of comments basically
saying, "Dude, this is so helpful. I got
my first like networking out of this. I
like got over my fear of cold email,
whatever it was." And so I sat there and
I was like, "Okay, how do I turn this
into a full-time income so I could do
this for a living?" Cuz like I got to
work for myself. I got to be creative,
which was crazy for me as a immigrant
kid. Did you think about going
fullfledged personal brand or did you
realize that that had limited value in a
medium-term maybe long long term if you
play my kind of game but like did you
understand no no I have to build a SAS
something that has more intrinsic value.
>> I was a techie at heart and so I knew I
wanted to build something more scalable
than myself. I also knew that I wanted
to build more impact rather than just my
personal brand. But I recognized at the
time that the distribution mechanism
Yeah.
>> the best way to get out there and get
your brand out there is to build your
own personal brand first.
>> Yeah. I would say real quick cuz it's an
important point and I want to it's not a
counter to your point, but it's an and.
I just want everyone to know that like
I'm on the record that I believe Gandhi
and Martin Luther King had a lot of
impact. And so I think right right I
think it's really and I think this goes
to like us and obviously we like our
circles cross over but knowing that like
what absolutely I bought you know and
it's like fun to like cuz I haven't said
this to you yet like the whole I'm going
to help you buy the Jets I'm like
brother Jets are like 20 billion and
like I don't have that much of stand so
like if you're if you're going to build
a a$1 13 trillion business like masleto
and we might be able to get there. What
absolutely I did believe though was that
you understood what the thank you
economy and crush it were. You know,
it's really funny. You look at anything
in your life. I always, you know, it's
kind of like a music artist like usually
the first album's the punchline. Like if
you really look at right sequels and
like if you really look at a creative
person, you have your I had my whole
life to write Crush It. I had 24 months
to write The Thank You Economy after
that. Right. It's like I think that what
was very clear to me was when I think
about crush it plus thank you economy
and what that means to people I did
believe what why you and I are sitting
here right now and I've met a lot of
people obviously in my career. I did
believe it was in your stomach
>> the combination of crush it and thank
you economy.
>> Y
>> I think you're very articulate and like
even when you communicate to me I'm like
I don't think you're doing it on
purpose. I can feel when we're subcon
where you're subconsciously talking to
me on things you think I will like and
that doesn't bother me because I
actually think it comes from a very good
place but I get much more excited about
the reason we're here which is I think
you I it I you know I always say this
humans are animals and we forget that
just like animals you can smell your own
>> for anybody who has a dog have you ever
seen a dog walk by another dog it's like
a different game it's like their
We have that too and we don't talk about
that enough in my time with you. The the
your inherent DNA. Forget about you
being affected by consuming my content
or anyone else in you is the combination
of crush it and the thank you economy
and that's why I'm here.
>> Cool.
>> Straight up.
>> I love that. I wouldn't advise that
investing thesis to most people, but um
combined with the data I I'm like, "Wow,
that's cool."
>> Yeah. And so I guess where I'm going is
like self-awareness everyone. This goes
to like who he is. But that's why I
wanted to just jump in. Building
something scalable and impact comes
absolutely in the form of Jeff Bezos or
Mark Zuckerberg or whoever. And it also
comes in the form of you know Gandhi and
and and MLK. And I think the biggest
game for all of you especially if you
all go down this stand journey. It was
funny when he rattled off I was
listening when he rattled off all those
things. is I was like I wonder what
someone's listening right now is like
[ __ ] I need website and email or I need
ser like you know like that Swiss Army
knife that Stan creates that you've done
especially at the cost structure that's
what excites me because it's actually
we're getting to the punchline here
everybody who's listening
needs something none of them are the
same and the combos are not the same
right the entrepreneur that's listening
right now is like winning on their
website or doesn't even believe in
website and that's very easy to not
believe in it I always laugh Gary, you
don't believe in website? Like, have you
ever seen my website? But I very much
believe in website. Um, and by the way,
with with
SEO going to, you know, chat bots, like
it's shit's about to get very
interesting in that world. But
nonetheless, I think that people being
self-aware. Are they a John or a Gary
right now if they're listening, right?
Like it's okay to go all in on personal
brand. It's okay to go all in on
technology. And I I think to the opening
rant, I think people are going to get
blended all the way in, right? So, keep
going.
>> Yeah. I mean, in that you just alluded
to why ST has been so successful so far.
It's like my immigrant roots manifest as
a price point, which is I grew up going
to Costco with my mom and like, man, I
[ __ ] love like a bulk deal and lots
of toilet paper. But point being is, you
know, I studied as computer science back
in the day as a kid. I was like a very
mediocre programmer. But I started
trying to maggyver together like a
website that was like $30 a month and
then a course hosting platform that
would charge you like $200 for like
courses and then community for my
community and subscription. And then I
needed to send invoices. And I was
spending like $400 a month just to get
started, which is just completely
inaccessible for anyone. And so I was
like, "Fuck it. I know how to like I can
just build all of this in like a couple
months." And so I did. That was the
first version of Stan was I built it for
my own account. And I was like, why are
we charging for bits in in a cloud?
>> Did you when you said you were building
for yourself, did you know that this
when you started building it, you knew
this was the thing you wanted to build?
>> Yes.
>> Okay, got it. Did you Did you name it
right away? I I was think I thought
about the name for a couple weeks and I
just I immediately thought Stan, right?
Because why I love the name Stan is
because it stands for super fan, right?
It's the original Eminem song. Now Jinzy
has co-opted the term. And so Stan is
like how we want to show up for all of
our entrepreneurs and creators. It's
like we want to be your super fan and
support you through the journey.
>> By the way, if you're 16 and you've
never listened to the song, which is
like actually much more real than a lot
of us in this room would like to admit
that a lot of kids have not listened to
this yet, you really need to listen to
it. It is one of the most creative songs
of all time.
>> I really believe that.
>> Wow.
>> I really that song really, this was long
before I even had an audience or it was
just like the voice changeover is always
been my favorite when hip-hop has done
that and the way he does it in that song
I think is just like legendary.
>> Yeah. Then you you get the term and the
legacy of it. But yeah, I essentially I
knew so deeply in my heart that this was
a painoint I had and therefore it would
be helpful for everyone else because I
knew that on a like a macro basis,
everyone was just going to the feelings
that I was having doing that job, the
creativity, the like inspiration I was
feeling, I just knew that like this was
the manifestation of like Mazo's
hierarchy of needs, right? If I could
figure out how to pay my bills, I was
already generating community. I was
already generating belonging. I was
already generating meaning and I was
going to generate financial freedom
through this as well. And so I just knew
in my heart of hearts that like number
one, I desperately needed the service
cuz I wasn't going to pay $500 a month
and more importantly waste hours trying
to figure out all these different clunky
softwares when I knew I could build
something way simpler for way cheaper.
And I knew that millions of other people
one day would want to use this. And so
that's how Stan got started. And you
know, now we're helping 75,000 creators
make over $300 million, which is crazy
to think about. Like we'll be at a
billion soon um just with how things are
going exponentially. Um and it's just
been really really cool to see like all
the stories of people like you. Let's
actually go into that chapter of this
podcast. Let's go into for instance.
>> Sure.
>> I think the best way a lot of people
learn is in this format. So we're
setting this up.
>> For instance,
>> give me success stories that you're
seeing on the platform either
specifically or uh knowing that there's
six pharmacists doing X. Tell me the
story of like so you're a far. So let's
play let's play a rapid fire. For
instance, for instance, if you're
listening right now and you are,
>> for instance, I can prove to you
whatever your background is and whatever
you look like, wherever you come from, I
can guarantee you we have a success
story on stand. So, I'll just rattle off
a bunch. I talked to this kid once, 18
years old. If you're a young kid, his
name's Stone Frederickson. He emailed me
before at 17 because he couldn't set up
a stand account cuz he wasn't legally
allowed to set up a Stripe bank account.
And as soon as he turned 18, in 2 months
off of TikTok, he made $100,000. Has not
had to go to college, decided to full on
pursue entrepreneurship. Another one
that I absolutely love is
>> do you do you obviously you know that in
the macro. Do you know what he actually
sells?
>> He was specifically teaching boomers how
to do social media.
>> Smart,
>> right? So he was great timing because I
think one thing I kept saying at Vayner
Media in postco by the way I have to say
it now. This is sad. This is a big big
shout out to how [ __ ] up Fortune 500
marketing companies are. the biggest
brands in the world, like the biggest
ones, like the ones you know, like
Toyota, like you know, CocaCola.
Literally, if you're the head of
marketing for those companies, you don't
realize that there are 50 and 60 year
olds dominating Tik Tok consumption and
then you come to Vayner and we have a
meeting and we're like, "Hey, Tik Tok."
And they're like, "I know. Our target
audience is really 55 and let's say it's
this person is the cliche 42 to
60year-old marketer." I'm like, "Are you
on it?" "Yes." I'm like, and this is
where I always kill them. I'm like, "Are
your parents on it?" And they're like,
"Yeah, my dad's addicted to it." I'm
like, "Your dad's 82."
And so that kid really crushed it
because there's so many boomers on
TikTok, yet a lot of people don't see
it.
>> Yep. Yeah. You get it? And so then in
that sense, I'll give you completely
different side of the spectrum. Um,
Selena Camaro, I think she's in her
mid30s. She's also a North Carolina
native. You know what she does? She
makes content online about homesteading
specifically. She started a digital
product on how to uh bake sourdough
bread.
>> Makes sense.
>> If you want to guess how much money
she's made.
>> Um well, knowing Mona, my wife's
obsession with sourdough bread. And now
I'm going to have to ask you like which
wheat and yeast and all that stuff. But
oh, an absolute ton because it's
crushing. This topic is crushing. I'm
going to go with 800,000.
>> Very very very close. She's in the mid
six figures. Her username is milkmadearm
for anyone who wants to look her up on
Instagram. That is a completely random
niche out there, right? I think of like
we have bread baking. We have someone
who does crochet crocheting specifically
who just started stand this past month
and we were speaking to her and she's
made almost 10k already.
>> AJ, it's so funny. Like you must be
laughing, right? Like I the reason I'm
going to AJ right now literally when I
wrote I wrote Crush It in '08. It came
out in '09.
>> You cannot you can actually do this
right now. You can go back and go click
the one-star reviews on Crush It on
Amazon and sort by oldest. When this
book came out and I said people are
going to make money on Go ahead.
>> Okay. Wasn't like honey farming one like
bees and honey. You very niche like you
were just saying.
>> Yeah. My thesis then was everyone is
going to make $100,000 a year talking
about you know smurf it up. I mean my
talk that changed my career. I'm like if
you love smurfs smurf it up. I believe
someone right now listening and this is
why I'm so addicted to your tool.
It it is not lost on anyone anymore that
whether it's YouTube or Tik Tok or
something else like you literally can
get millions of views about Smurfs. What
is lost is this is probably the money
shot of this entire podcast. So almost
everybody right now has a uncomfortably
high percentage likelihood of going
viral if they post every day. This is a
profound. We're going to get into
something very important of why the
interest graph, not the social graph, is
impacting why we're having this
conversation about Stan. Almost I'm
going to go nice and slow. Almost
everyone who's listening, if you post
something random every day, I'm talking
about very random like you have
something stuck in your teeth, you grab
a toothpick, you're now on this I'm
going to post something random.
Actually, I might create a challenge
right now called the 365 day a year
random post challenge where you have to
post something random every day, every
day on Tik Tok and Instagram. I'll just
stay there, but YouTube shorts please,
Facebook, please. But just knowing how
those two algos work, especially Tik
Tok,
that if you post something random
similar to, and this is going to hit
with my audience, when I just decided to
post that I [ __ ] with blueberries and
nobody can eat them like me, and it
became my most viewed post.
Almost all of you actually know what I'm
saying. You may not do it. You're scared
to do it, but you kind of know it's true
cuz all of us have consumed so much
content on complete randomness. I'm
aware that most of you are not creative
enough yet to wake up every day and just
do something random. But I'm telling
you, I'm talking about like which
shampoo you've used for 14 days years in
a row, why you stubbed your toe today,
like like just random. I believe that if
if you do that,
and I get this DM a thousand times a
month, Gary, I just had my first viral
post. What do I do? How do I make money?
Right, Gary? I just got a post. I
normally get 50 views. I just got a
post. I got 2 million. How do I make
money now? I believe the answer is being
in front with a Stan-like situation
where you're prepared for the moment.
>> Correct.
>> So, like, if let's play it out. I'm
going to This is why I'm excited that
we've allocated a lot of time for this
podcast. I'm going to go like I I don't
feel rushed, which is what [ __ ] me up
on podcasts.
you're a person and you take this
challenge that we're making up on the
spot right now. We, by the way, John and
I have been thinking about a hundred
different things to do and like
literally this is improv cliche. Like
yesterday,
>> this is like really smart and I'm
getting excited in real time. You were
going to post something random every
day. Now, you have to have a stand store
because you have to act quick. Let me
explain what happens in real life. You
post about pumpkin picking. It hits. It
gets three million views. You're gonna
see it. you're going to know something's
happening if you're already set up with
infrastructure when people land on your
account and you have a URL in your
profile to send them somewhere and
you're going to have to help me here,
John, because I'm I'm far along on your
product, but not far. I'm I'm going to
paint a picture. Tell me how right I am
or what they would have to do. Play
tennis with me here as Wimbledon's going
on. Um
I'm Gary. I'm I'm inspired by Gary right
now. Just like the flip challenge of
2017, I'm taking the 365day random post
challenge.
I post about pumpkin picking. I've got a
stand store. I've got the pieces in
place where I need you in a little bit
so that I can do what Gary's about to
say, which is it goes viral
and then I can run quickly to my
standstack.
>> Yep.
>> And have prepared like uh let me tell
you how my brain would work. a $9 a
month newsletter or or offering or
course on how to do a monthly activity
with your children, right? Because my
brain would go to, okay, everyone's
obsessed with this pumpkin picking thing
I did. That's cool. When it if I go now
and spend 2 hours while this is going
viral in real time to get my [ __ ]
together and I can capture
subscriptions,
I can do this. Now, you have to be back
to self-awareness. You have to realize
like, do you actually have 12 ideas to
actually sell people? Because you can
maybe get them to sign up during this
virality. I'll be right and you'll be
very happy with me. But you won't retain
them if the November and December idea
is [ __ ] They're going to unsubscribe
and not pay you anymore. But there's
something that I see where everybody's
going viral now.
All of them have no idea what to do with
it. They start going into how do I get
brand deals? How do I get this? What I
saw in your product and what I think is
real is this tech infrastructure, these
tools can allow them to monetize even
that viral post if they move in real
time
>> thoughts. Correct. The caveats I would
give you if you're like worried about if
if you're worried about random post like
what should I post really randomly? The
first thing I tell you is find your eeky
guy which is that um vin diagram the the
center between what you're really
passionate about what you could talk
about for free for the rest of your life
and then also uh what you're really good
at because in this context the pumpkin
picking you picked out the larger theme.
So for example we actually literally
have probably a couple dozen different
parents who've crossed over 10k just
teaching other parents about how to like
for example live a phone free life with
your kids.
>> 10k total 10k a month I want to get your
content
>> at least 10k total.
>> Perfect. By the way, this is where I'm
jumping in cuz the other thesis I had
with Prussia was like, okay, like you
can laugh at me and make fun of me. This
is what I was talking about with the one
star. But hey, it asking you American by
the way, you got to remember what time
it was in 2008. The economy had collap
2009 the economy collapsed. Vayner Media
was built on all of AJ's smart kids that
lost job offerings during that spring.
>> Yeah.
>> From jobs they got. No longer job
available. And so we just were able to
have like a lot of his smart friends
start with us and jam. Marcus would the
guy who runs Veayner Media International
who's been AJ's friend since first grade
100,000 million% if the economy did not
collapse in 2009 would have never worked
here.
>> He lost his finance job and he's like
I'll intern for the they were just
[ __ ] kids like we'll hang out and
social. You know
the the thing that I said a lot and
that's why I want to double click on
this cuz again a lot of you were
listening and you're like nah I can't
right I cannot stop being a lawyer. I
I'm going to keep listening to Gary and
John. I' I know what Gary's core thesis
is. It sounds like there's a tool now
here that maybe can extend Gary's story
and make this even more real than Gary
talks about which is why I'm here.
But I can't cuz I make 380. And here's
the big punch line. I make 380 in salary
and I'm living a 420 life. Everybody has
a house too big. Everybody has stuff
they don't need. Here's what I want
everybody here and I'll let you jump
back in for a lot of people listening.
The 10K, the reason I just jumped in and
I'm ranting.
I just want to ask everybody, how many
people here who are listening right now,
if you made an extra 10K in the year,
I'm not even talking a month, that that
can be deployed against either debt or
for a nicer vacation with the family
this December than you would have more
Ritz Carlton, less Holiday in. No, no
disc on Holiday in. It's a place where I
>> grew up doing eight. I grew up days in.
Bro, the only By the way, Holiday in was
the first place I stayed when we went to
Disney with me, my mom, and sister. Um,
I I'm passionate about that, bro. And
everyone's posting anyway, so why not
make 17,000 more? That's why I'm so
excited about what you've got.
>> Yeah.
>> Because I know what I'm telling people,
but there is a second part. The
monetization.
>> Yes.
>> 99.99999999%
of people are not going to become Mr.
beast where the monetization comes from
the pennies on the views on the big
platforms.
1% of the people listening now are going
to get to be a big enough creator that
brand deals actually come in.
>> Yes.
>> 99% can build a tech stack at $29 that
can make them between 7 and 70,000 in a
year.
>> Yeah. And the caveat I'd actually give
you
>> that's the punch line of the company.
The caveat I give you as well on the
lawyer accountant piece is I would
actually argue many of the lawyers and
accountants and dentists who use our
platform to drive leads ver via let's
say LinkedIn for example are probably
clearing in many in many cases more with
the client revenue they're booking
through their stand.
>> I got it. So you're say you're taking a
little bit of different tweak. We're now
talking about a completely different
audience which actually both audiences
are working
>> right. Don't leave your job and become
the head of pumpkin picking. You're
saying use the tech stack that we've
done to take what you're already doing
and accelerate it.
>> That's correct. You can take both
angles. So either you some people think
of entrepreneurship especially online
that you have to go zero to one. You
have to fully quit your job, what have
you. No, like you can either see this as
a side hustle and like like let's say
you're a mom or a parent, what have you,
and you're busy, you can do this a
couple hours a week and start to teach
other parents how you stay sane or the
fun activities you take your kids out
and make 10K in a year. Or you can be a
lawyer who's full-time focused on
running your own law firm or being a
partner in a different law firm. You
should still be, no matter what, you
should still be building your personal
brand because you just talked about all
the companies in '08 that went down.
Like everyone here knows that like the
macro environment right now and all the
institutions are toppling. Like do you
want to be beholden to a 9 to5 and
someone else like deciding your fate or
do you want to also be co-investing in
yourself in a way where what I know to
be true is that people who are building
their own personal brand, their own
personal platform are going to be more
resilient over time. Of course. And so
that insurance policy. Exactly. And so
that's the whole point of Stan is like
we're going to meet you wherever you
are. Whether you're a dentist or an
accountant trying to drive leads for
your business. Stan has so many of those
people generating hundreds or thousands
of leads a year just like posting about
accounting or tax law like on TikTok.
You'd be surprised. There's whole niches
because you're going to find your
business owners there. Or it's someone
who once again is a parent or someone
who's doing crochet or someone who's
doing fitness and teaching specifically
the niche of people over 60. Like we
have someone named Eddie Abu who's made
over a million and a half teaching
60-year-olds how to stay fit. It's
insane.
>> No, no, I mean it's like it's the
biggest thesis I have. I in fact a lot
of your examples are so in pocket to
what I think people know. The reason I'm
bringing up pumpkin patch picking and a
toothpick like I really want people to
understand this like like what's what's
going to absolutely happen. So again,
back to Crush It because this is where
the tie-in is. The fitness person, the
teaching finance, like boomers learning
social media, like that's all live the
thesis. I think there's a I'm telling
you I believe this. I think there's
another gear coming which is like just
complete outer space. Like like
I want here's one that's got me
fascinated. Do you know how many people
love mowing their lawn?
>> Oh, it's like a total like turn off your
brain activity. It's great. It's like
like it's like I lit. So I love garage
selling. I think it's pretty well
documented. While I'm in doing the thing
that I love the most that's super weird
because I garage sale on early Saturday
mornings. Every time I drive by somebody
who I can tell is really enjoying mowing
their You have to understand if you told
me that I had to mow my lawn right now,
like this Saturday, um or choose death
by like poisonous hornets slowly, I'm
definitely choosing the poisonous
hornets. like I could not want to do
something less, which is what all this
comes from, which is like knowing
somebody who's listening right now, and
this is why I want to really milk this,
who's obsessed with mowing their lawn. I
It's impossible for me to believe that
most people
see $50,000 a year of income on that
truth. I love mowing my lawn with a beer
so much and listening to [ __ ] Van
Halen.
Oh my god, that truth. Back to passion,
right? Literally, it's called cash in on
your passion.
>> Yeah.
>> The thesis is the cross-section of what
you you will never work hard enough if
you don't like it to actually compete
with the whole world. The reason I
believe you have to love it is you just
can't work hard enough if you're doing
it for the money. The reason people quit
crypto trading and then cannabis selling
and then real estate is they keep
chasing the thing the money's in, but
they don't like it. And you're competing
against people that love the living [ __ ]
out of it and they're working 19 hours a
day and you're working 19 minutes.
>> I do not believe anyone right now, John,
who's obsessed with mowing their lawn on
Saturdays for 3 hours, checking out from
their 9 to5. They hate that. checking
out from their family and want to hear
from them even the Saturday morning.
This is their place. I don't believe
that dude cliche plenty ladies I'm sure
live that life as well. I don't think
that person is like this is a $50,000 a
year revenue business for me and my
family. I do believe the combination of
where social media is, where random
posts from people who have no followers
that can get 8 million views with a tech
stack that allows them to have a URL in
that Tik Tok or Instagram when it goes
viral that allows them to capture
revenue. I don't believe anyone knows
that to be true.
>> Yeah. Not enough people.
>> Forget about not enough people. I think
fitness, look, you know this web 1.0 had
[ __ ] people selling courses before
social media. Yes,
>> I believe that people know probably most
people listening right now have a friend
acquaintance relative who is a fitness
trainer virtually and selling courses or
virtually they know that to be true.
>> Yes.
>> I do not believe that anybody who's
listening right now realizes that their
obsession with making puzzles, you know,
puzzle pieces that that this Friday
night they're going to get a glass of
wine with their high school friend who's
going to come over. This is their
ritual. And they were going to literally
open a fresh box and they were going to
work on this [ __ ] puzzle of a [ __ ]
forest. And they're and they're more
excited than ever to get the little
corner piece cuz they're like, "All
right, here we go." I don't believe
those two ladies at 37 years old who
have, you know, two kids each who this
Friday night is their life where they
pop that bottle of wine, [ __ ] on their
husbands and kids with each other and do
that [ __ ] puzzle cuz they met at camp
when they were nine and they did puzzles
together. I don't believe those two
ladies are sitting there and saying,
"You know what?"
as they talk about being concerned about
finances or as your point earlier they
one of them says I think my husband's
about to lose his job because of AI. I
don't believe those two ladies sit there
and say, "You know what? If we just take
out our phone right now
and film whatever the [ __ ] you know,
like random. This is where I'm going."
Not per crush. It was purposeful.
I'm going into the random economy, but
passion.
>> Yes.
>> I don't think they think that one video
they po film that they post on a TikTok
that then gets 13 million views for some
unknown reason and they listen to this
podcast and put in the work. And this is
why I love this. This was my obsession.
The $29 a month to me, you can most
people, almost e every person listening
can take the risk of paying for it for
even 4 months without it being ROI
positive for it to be there if they're
posting every day for this moment. So
that when they hit and they have a
puzzle guide or how you start a puzzle
club and it's eight bucks a month or
whatever, you're going to have to teach
me a little bit here. I don't think
that's real yet.
>> People Yeah. I I I you see where I'm
going like when I was saying fitness
people good news you don't need to go to
pe to the gym and only have nine clients
make content and post in 2008 on your
email newsletter and use Google Adwords
that was that version where I'm going in
this talk is I think we're in the
pre-dawn of something very different
>> actually maybe the manifestation of when
I said smurf it up or if you love ALF
like I feel like I was earlyish because
it was like you had to So remarkable.
And really, AJ, you remember this. You
know what my point back then was? It was
AdSense.
John, I don't know if you know this.
Actually, I'm I'm backtracking here a
little bit. The reason I believed in
what I was saying was back in 2008,
preocial media being scaled, people had
websites and you would throw Google
AdSense on it.
>> Remember that Bape website?
>> Yeah. A AJ had a Bape, you know, Bape
the clothing brand. AJ had a Bape
website. He would post BAPE content. You
would put the code from Google, Adwords,
AdSense. So it means ads showed up on
your site and you were making what?
>> Like a,000 bucks a month
>> in college.
>> 1,000 bucks a month back then prorated
with inflation. Plus there wasn't all
the ad revenue in digital marketing.
There's that.
>> Yeah.
>> I love I spent 10 minutes a month on it.
>> I just really believe that people would
love to spend and back to AJ's point of
he spent 10 minutes a month on it to
make a,000. Like again, 90% of people
need to make another thousand dollar a
month.
>> Yeah.
>> I think we get very confused of what's
happening in real life and social has
confused people even more. You just
consume the 1% of 1% stuff and you
forget that 99% of the people listening
right now to this podcast really need
forget about want. I want $1,000 a month
more. Why not? Why wouldn't I? I don't
need it.
>> Yeah.
>> A stunning percentage need it. This goes
to the point and I'm going to finish
this off this rant will move. I think
the random to the adjustment I think the
way even you and I even walking into
this room is like okay I I passion and
and and knowledge right or skill and and
there's a ven diagram right like you're
90% passionate about dentistry you're
just okay but if you understand this to
or the other way right you you actually
don't love it back to what a lot of
people are living you don't love it but
you're actually good at it right I think
we understood that for Stan I'm saying
something very different I'm saying if
you go with all the things of your life,
like this is almost like 3.0 version of
this. First it was like what is what are
you gonna do for a job? Then this whole
thesis was what's your passion? News
alert you might be able to turn your
passion into profit. That was like what
15 years ago starting to get more real.
I'm now saying something even further
and it's probably touches a little bit
on reality TV DNA. Let me explain where
I'm about to go. I'm saying if you post
something every day that is just
happening in your every day, like you
guys leave right now and you just think
that the hot dog stand is funny. Like I
don't think people are triggered or
framed up to think like I'm going to
make a piece of content today that is
just my life.
But not the life I want to project.
Everyone thinks that now I'm a
fashionista. I'm a right. No, no. Just
like very random. If I have a tech
infrastructure, I can decide if I want
to take advantage of all that attention
because we're fully in the attention
economy while I'm getting these four
million views about hot dog stands.
Again, I'm just going to use YouTube. If
you happen to be a person that is
interested in travel and you know you're
getting the hot dog stand views from New
York right now, you can decide if you're
This is why I'm trying to teach right
now. Huh, I'm going to do a city guide
for three bucks a month subscription.
The fact that you can go from posting
like this is why I'm getting so hyped
because I love speed. I post the hot dog
stand because I just left Gary's office
and I'm buying into this ridiculous
concept. So, I'm just going to try. It
gets views. I already did the stand part
and I can go into my stand and now
refigure it.
>> Yes.
>> Put the overlay like a couple minutes.
Yeah. And and how about an hour? You got
three hours actually to like really set
it up nicely that I have a $4 a month
city guide and that 13 million views
literally leads to $900 a month
recurring revenue for you and it'll
decline if you're not good. 900 from the
viral 750 people drop off. I don't know.
There's something there there.
>> Yeah. Well, I think the best pro point I
can give anyone in their heads right
now, if they're still incredulous, is
one thing I realized about all of us is
we all out there have one niche form of
content we love consuming. So, for
someone out there, it's mowing lawns.
For me, it's like this one really
specific nerdy game called Runescape
from back in the day that I just like
watch. I still to this day, it's like me
and 300,000 other kids from like the
2000s. Um, but we all have that one
random thing that for some reason just
lights us the [ __ ] up and we're super
passionate about. And
>> by the way, and and most people have
many like as you were talking I can see
AJ over your shoulder and I was like
what's AJ's? Oh, deep cut wrestling
trivia. Like his feed has got like we
know a lot about wrestling but this is
like he's been he's like I I was older
so I knew more but now I think he's
outflanking me because he's watching all
this [ __ ] He's like hey repo man who
was his first manager in Calgary. I'm
like, I don't know, you know, like like
you know, like but AJ also has golf and
AJ also has the Jets and Knicks and AJ
like like you know the reality is is we
don't have one and I think that actually
leads a little bit to what I'm saying
right now, right? So you're saying run
and that's a little bit more crushy like
Ultima online I know it was for you when
was you so like let's say AJ was
listening lived an alternative life
super buying in I'm saying hey AJ yes
Ultima online but if you're listening to
Gary B in 2009 and 10 it's Ultima online
because you had to build a website you
got to make content adsets what I'm
saying here right now improv by the way
this is like I've literally not thought
of any of this in all the time we've
been thinking but it's just coming to me
in the moment is hey AJ Ultima online
and golf and wrestling and the Jets and
the Knicks and crypto and AI and then AJ
because you're signing up for the 365
day challenge when Ally makes cuz she's
a great cook some like something you
never had before like [ __ ] chicken
pot pie and the video is like literally
cuz you're now you know being discip by
the way everyone this is all about
discipline either you're signing up for
doing 365 posts or you're not either you
set up 3 hours of stand to do this 365
five before you even start or you're not
>> ridiculous by the way.
>> Respect.
>> But when AJ posts the chicken pot pie is
yummy cuz he's run out of you know he
did the wrestling like he's right when
he says this is yummy and that's the one
that decides to get 13 million views and
he's laying in bed that evening and he's
like Ally
should we [ __ ] like again this is the
the family talk that people would have.
Hey, you're a pretty good like and
especially with AI, it's like, hey, do
you just want to do like should we sell
a recipe guide?
>> Easily sell a chicken pot pie recipe
guide on that.
>> No [ __ ]
>> Yeah,
>> we have so many examples of that. You
can This is where I'm going. The long
tail of that. You can sell You can sell
spicy only chicken pot pie recipe guides
for $4 a month.
>> Yeah,
>> it's [ __ ] profound is where I'm
going. I I I think how I'm interpreting
what you're saying is you go with this
idea is I think you're bringing all of
into this example all of AJ's humanity.
We all have different facets of us. And
the beauty of these algorithms today is
y'all you have to realize when you post
a piece of content the algorithm is
literally incentivized and designed to
connect you with other human beings in
the world who care about that
>> interest graph
>> and and the right the interest graph.
The beauty of our humanity and also
these algorithms is like at some point
one of these will hit because it's like
the right chemistry of how you talked
about it and your passion plus like you
as a person and then hitting with all
the other people in that niche.
>> And for everybody, I'm sorry to
interrupt cuz there's that much demand
on the other side. There's that much
global consumption on the other side
that the reason you eventually hit is
there's just that much attention.
>> Yes. And and you can be super agile with
something like Stan. It's like you don't
know exactly what it is. you probably
have a strong gut instinct to be clear
of like what the top one to two things
are that you should start with. But then
let's say you finally figure out what
that thing is with Stansor. It's super
modular. You can just like literally, oh
[ __ ] like chicken pot pie is hitting.
Let me just like we have an internal AI
system that'll literally make a digital
product for you. Like that's part of
Stanford. Like okay, hey, it's called
Stanley. Hey Stanley, make me a digital
product on how do I make a chicken pot
pie recipe. It'll make that for you in
your voice and your style and everything
it knows from you cuz also scraping your
content too.
>> Yep. So it's all like very easy to just
quickly pivot and then like you know
next year you're no longer a chicken pot
pie guy.
>> What are most people monetizing against
>> specifically the top two SKs the top two
products people should be thinking about
is either a digital product or something
like a course or an ebook or a guide or
a recurring community subscription.
>> Let's talk about that that part because
I think for the first 20 minutes for the
last 20 minutes I've been pushing
everyone towards a very specific place
that first one.
>> Educate me on the second place.
>> So this is really important to think
about recurring revenue right. So what
you're going to find is like let's say
you're super passionate about chicken
pot pie. Like I'm like wow I grew up on
Marie Calendar chicken pot pies. There's
at least maybe a couple thousand other
people in the world. Like you remember
the days of like niche Facebook groups
like people like really into hand
drivers was one that I was on.
>> AJ, which one? What was that?
>> We had a bunch on this too. This is like
a The reason this is so native to me of
what you're doing
>> is this is what we were doing in 2009 in
a different version at a different
scale. Like this is just a rebirth of
where me and AJ were in 20079. Way
bigger.
>> Dozen Facebook
>> Flight of the Concords.
>> That was one.
>> Remember that show? There was millions
of people in these things. What was the
funny one? There was one ridiculous one.
>> Ridiculous one.
>> You're trying to remember.
>> I know it.
>> Oh, 1.2 million people
>> in a Facebook group.
>> When a group of people walk side by side
together on a sidewalk want to punch him
in the back of the head.
>> That was the name of the group. Say it
again.
>> When people walk side by side. Like when
a group of people walk side by side one
another on a sidewalk, I want to punch
them in the back of the head. 1.2
million. I bought that group for $500. I
DM the admin just bought it for 500
bucks and then I just started running
affiliate ads.
>> Yeah, that's insanely smart. That's
insanely smart. That's so smart.
>> And and so
>> Daily to 10,
>> of course. That's what that's Vayner
Media was almost Buzzfeed. Yeah,
>> we had a site called Daily 1 to10 that
we were building on the leverage of all
these Facebook fan pages and then one of
our or all of our Facebook fan pages got
>> just converted to terms of service.
>> Yeah. And we got [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ]
sucks.
>> But you guys get it. And so what stands
for is I'm realizing Yes. So our
community feature for example is
literally the new age Facebook group. So
you just create your own Facebook group
that you own by the way, not Facebook.
So you own the data, you own the
community, all that kind of stuff. You
can make it free up front just like that
and then like run affiliates through
that or have an up like a tier over time
that's that's priced higher what have
you or you can charge up front but
you're just connecting the world of um
people who want to punch each punch
people on the sidewalk or people who
love chicken pot pie like there's enough
people the scale people don't realize
the scale like the hundreds of millions
of people for the
>> and to remind everybody who's I know
what you were all doing right now so
okay wait a minute let me get this
straight John I'm going to do a thing
called like mowing my lawn on Saturday
is the greatest three hours of my life
group, right? Cuz that's the content I'm
making. And I'm John, you're telling me
people are going to come to this URL
after. And Gary, you're telling me I'm
going to get one viral post cuz now I'm
going a different route. I'm going a
different route, everyone. Just so
following me. I've decided that it's I'm
not going to do the random Gary
challenge. I'm going to do the lawn
mower thing. That's what resonated with
me cuz I can actually post that every
day or I can film on my Saturdays enough
to post seven days a week. That's what
I'm going to do. And what I'm going to
do is on my stand store, I'm going to
have a community that's going to charge
people two bucks a month to be a part
of.
>> Yeah.
>> To be in here. And what you're going to
say, everyone on the other line is like,
why the [ __ ] would I do that when I can
go around social and find that and do it
for free? And I'm going to tell you that
people, whether consciously or
subconsciously, know that the friction
associated with paying two bucks a month
to be part of something will make the
quality of the community way better.
>> Yes. they'll actually be bought in and
opted in.
>> Correct. So, what people don't
understand is like, yes, there are free
versions on social and forums and
Discords, but this is coming from a
Discord reality. There are unlimited
Discords that charge. And what you know
that happens when you charge is it's a
different person. All of a sudden, those
random people that piss you off in
forums, Discords, and Twitter that are
just trolling and hateful, they're not
as inclined to pay six bucks to just
[ __ ] with you.
>> That's correct. and having 8,000 people
that pay six bucks. Those [ __ ] really
give a [ __ ] And I'm not joking when I
say this. All of a sudden, if you're
this person, you're going to wake up in
2031 and you're going to have Saturday
lawnmower con where you're literally
going to have John Deere paying you
$500,000 sponsorship for literally 4,000
people around the world coming to a
[ __ ] field in the middle of nowhere,
Ohio to [ __ ] mow lawns.
I believe that.
>> I love it. You're literally going to
make 800 bucks a month, 8,000 bucks a
month for people that are paying eight
bucks a month to just talk with each
other about lawnmowers. And you're going
to learn your entrepreneurial thing and
eventually you're going to be like,
"Fuck, what can I do on top of this?"
And you're going to create a real life
event
because Comic-Con had nobody show up to
the first one.
>> Do you know that Comic- Con's first
Comic-Con was like in a hotel ballroom
and had like 13 weirdass nerds? I had no
idea. Now it's that might be a hyperbole
of it, but it was incredibly small. And
oh, by the way, of course, everything
that starts is incredibly small.
>> Like that's Do you know that Super Bowl
one did not sell out?
>> No way.
>> Super Bowl one didn't sell every ticket
in the stadium. That was only in 1967.
>> Huh?
>> In 1967,
the NFL was so unpopular that they
couldn't sell. It was actually the NFL
vers. there was two different leagues.
Joe Nameoth from the New York Jets won
Super Bowl three and a stunner and it
merged the leagues. We'll get into that
in a different time, but um everything
starts small. And so when I sit here and
say mower con literally
mower and by the way, let me go a
different way. Uh you know how like some
people like mow without like like old
school like like you know like you know
what I'm talking about like a wooden and
[ __ ] like no electric like you could
get that niche. I'm gonna start a group
of people that mow their lawn with not
something that's powered by electricity
all by hand. The reason I'm going there
is that would be really good as a con.
Like if you get like 8,000 people that
are like, "Fuck it. We got to be men of
the" And this is actually so weird now.
Like this is so on trend. Like real men
and grounding and like we [ __ ] don't
even wear shoes cuz we got to be
grounding with the earth and we use a
[ __ ] wooden and metal [ __ ] lawn
mower and we do our whole thing. Those
[ __ ] those 8,000 guys that
would pay eight bucks a month to be in
your group will all show up with their
[ __ ] wooden mower and mow and you'll
have a 250k sponsor. This is real [ __ ]
brother. Liver king. I know it's very
controversial and all that, but it was
found liver.
Like, eat [ __ ] liver. Like, like
every niche in perpetuity. Cut hair
backwards. [ __ ] eat dog food as a
human. Uh, only watch sports between
1:00 am and 2 am and tweet about it. uh
wearing shirts inside out in perpetuity
that I am going to wear my shirt inside
out for the rest of my life and we all
should do that. That leads to f 5,000
people paying five bucks a month to talk
about living different. You got to level
it up, right? We like first it starts
with the funny part that leads to the
viral post, but then it leads to like
not living by people's standards and
then that leads to you doing big shout
out to Untuck It cuz I knew that kid cuz
he did some wine stuff. So they're like,
"What about that [ __ ] like you you
start a you I'm like really cooking
right now with gas.
>> I'm Yeah, I know. AJ knows me.
>> We We've got a hund00 million. I'm
literally Everybody, you're watching me
create a $100 million brand. I am going
to start wearing my shirts inside out.
I'm going to charge you five bucks a
month to be part of my community on
stand for people that wear shirts inside
out. And then once that builds up, I'm
going to launch my Inside Out brand of
t-shirts. And it's a I literally am
telling you I'm not going to do it
because I have a lot of things going on.
I just told you a hundred million dollar
business. That's how weird this is, man.
>> It's all about just finding your people.
That's just what it is, right?
>> But my argument is that every human
being on earth should use Stan.
>> Yeah. I I think
>> that's really what I'm saying. Like
everybody should use social for this
reason and everyone should have the tech
stack to be prepared because because the
viral moment right now does not
monetize.
Millions of people have gone viral this
year already six months in and haven't
made a penny from it and it [ __ ] with
them.
>> Yeah.
>> Because I'm on the receiving end of
this, John. I get different like I'm the
guy that literally gets emailed by
strangers at scale that says, "I just
got 2 million views on this. What do I
do, Gary?"
>> And the reason I think I've been
freaking out for 40 minutes is I'm like,
"Fuck, I didn't see this. This is
right." Like, if they're preempting
with Stan or something like Stan, I
don't even like [ __ ] Stan even for a
second. this is like important [ __ ]
Like if you're ready for the moment and
I think you've built the best mode for
this and the cost structure has me going
crazy. Like I feel comfortable saying
[ __ ] do this and pay 29 bucks a
month. Even if you go the whole year and
nothing [ __ ] happened, 360 bucks to
be prepared for your life changing is a
[ __ ] good investment.
I think we have to actually I'm like now
talking to you like almost breaking the
fifth wall. I think we need to like
actually build this out and show people
what to do when the moment happens.
>> Lovely.
>> Because I'm like improving right now,
but I think we need a guide that when
something goes viral, this is what have
stand ready.
>> Yep.
>> Have all this set up. This what you see
where I'm going. And this is what your
hour looks like in the moment you go
viral to actually capture this. You'll
have we'll have to do a bunch of work on
this. This is this speaks to this I
think takes it to a whole different
planet because there's no cost of entry.
>> Yeah. people that are listening right
now that like Mike, right? Mike is not
an entrepreneur.
He, you know, and this is a joke off of
yesterday's tea with Gary Vee where I
got him this social sale and he did
great and he could use the extra bucks
and this was like 4 weeks ago and I was
like, "Mike, how's it been going?" He's
like, "Hasn't sold since." I'm like,
"You're a [ __ ] loser." But he's not a
loser. He's just not a salesman, right?
But so Mike, who I adore, and that's why
I'm using him. It's important to me.
This is This whole rant for an hour has
been about Mike. Mike isn't going to be
the person that read Crush It and went.
But Mike listening right now, I'm sure
he's been listening. Mike absolutely
represents the rest of the 7.9 billion
people on Earth that's like, "Huh,
what?" And like again, Mike, what are
you into? Like what? Give me some other
interests.
>> Yeah.
>> Great.
>> Oh, great news.
>> So Mike Mike's thinking right now and
he's like, "Huh?"
>> Okay, Gary. Like what else? Mike, Jersey
Shore Life.
>> Jersey Shore Life.
>> Great. Let's just I apologize. Those two
things because I knew that one to be
true. Just want to show everybody I know
my employees. Um
Mike's now. Okay. So, wait. What's Gary
said? So, I go to Stan and obviously we
got work. All of us have work to do to
figure out like this guide for people to
understand. So, you set it up. You're in
and 29 bucks is risk. I don't I don't
say that lightly, but I again I think we
just talked about the value of 360 bucks
in a year to like change your whole
life.
So, wait, Gary, I'm going to post on
Tuesday about a piano thing. And on
Saturday when I go see the fam, I'm
going to talk about like sand when it
gets hot, right? Like, or like or the
Jersey Shore, what have you. Huh? Did I
hear that right? I can create either a
$5 a month guide to the Jersey Shore or
a $5 kind of community. Pay five bucks
to talk about the Jersey Shore 365 days
a year because the Jersey Shore's a 365
day a year thing. and you got to prep in
the spring to make sure you max like and
then he realizes like, huh? And then one
post in a year gets 3 million and then
everyone's hitting my URL on my profile
and now I've got 39 people paying me
five bucks a month and wait a minute,
huh? Does that mean I'm getting paid 200
bucks a month to basically be talking in
my stand instead of talking somewhere
else randomly on the internet? I think
that's going to resonate.
>> Yeah, you see where I'm going? That's a
very different twist, I think, than what
we're like. I think it's the evolution.
It's funny. I'm I have one more book I
have to write and I wrote Crush It and
then I wrote Crushing It and I literally
literally this last week was like should
I write Crushed It as like the third
book in this of like what or Crushing It
in an AI era is like Crush It actually
my how-to book series. What is that like
what's that series that was that's so
big? Um, what are the what's that book
series that's like super humongous and
it's for everything? Dummy. Thank you,
AJ. AJ, this is why he's the best. Like,
is Crush It my for dummy series?
>> Like, do I write Crush It Crushing It in
the AI era? Cuz I have very big thoughts
about live shopping this, you know? I I
actually think I'm laying out the thesis
of Crushing It in this new era right now
in real time.
>> I love it. Well, I I think just to give
everyone a really tactical guide, by the
way, on how to
In terms of stand,
>> it's it's actually as simple as you
have. We'll we'll come up we'll give you
guys a full what to do when you go
viral. This just so you guys all know is
this is how literally simple it is. So
you sign up for your stand free trial by
the way before you even convert into
having to pay $29 a month.
>> That's huge.
>> All you have to do
>> we should have mentioned that earlier.
We probably lost half of the listeners
in my [ __ ] 30-minute rant.
>> All you have to do, let's say you go to
the Jersey Shore, Mike, and you you go
viral just talking about like actually
the Jersey Shore isn't like that show.
It's actually Well, some of it is, but
it's also really [ __ ] nice. and
here's all my favorite restaurants.
Here's all my favorite hotels and this
is like my like itinerary which by the
way there's multiple people who like
monetize something like that for like N
bucks. All you literally have to do is
you go to your stand store and there
basically you see stand that store in
someone's link and bio that's when you
know they're a real entrepreneur but all
you have to do is just you have these
little blocks like on your little link
and bio website. You just add a little
block that says like I want to create a
little like Jersey Shore guy. I want to
create digital product. Then you go in,
you ask Stanley to be like hey like
write me a Jersey Shore guide based off
of this video I just posted. It'll just
do that. You like I you could PDF it.
You could turn it into a Canva guide,
whatever you want to do. What's your
style? You just click upload, you press
publish, you set a price, and then
you're literally done. Like that was
like that was literally it. No [ __ ] The
reason I used Mike is like I'm being
serious. This is not me razing Mike. I'm
also not a million things. Like I don't
put being an entrepreneur or salesman on
a pedestal. Obviously, I'm aware it
society has gotten bigger. By the way,
I'm the old man in this room. When I was
growing up, being an entrepreneur or
salesman was looked down on. M
>> you had that was the era of Stanford and
like Stanford Harvard Goldman Sachs in
1990 was 10 times more important than it
was when you guys were coming up and
it's still massively important but
>> you know so when I when I when I joke
with Mike right now it's what I learned
in my life is that I'm in a very small
group of people. There are very few
people on earth that are purebred
entrepreneurs. It's why they are so
that's why the good ones are so
compensated. It's just merit. It's just
the reality of the game. What I think
I'm getting completely
excited about right now is literally
when I walked into this room
5 minutes ago, aka an hour or so ago, I
thought that this is so cool because the
people that listen to me are built for
this product. But I knew that only
really really because I have so many
people listening to me for parenting and
entertainment. There's like I know my
audience that really 67.3%
of the people that were listening right
now should 100% do this. In the middle
of this,
I genuinely comfortably believe that I
stumbled on the fact that 100%.
Like I view this podcast right now in my
brain the same way I did when I told a
kid document don't create and I knew it.
It became such a big part of my career.
Like I did the Javit Center talk where I
said smurf it up and it changed my
career. If I keep and I may or may not
back to the inside out shirt thing like
I don't know how far I'm going to go
down this path of me believing in the
365day random challenge the stand
infrastructure but if I keep going this
is like 4 years of my content.
>> Yes.
>> And this will be the piece of content
that I keep editing from because it's
the long form. Like this is a very
important combo jump. again.
Entrepreneurs, yes. Entrepreneur
tendencies, yes. That's how I got the
67%. I'm actually now saying everyone.
>> That's correct. Everyone, everyone has
>> really everyone.
>> Yeah. Truly, everyone has something to
give.
>> I believe a lot of people are really not
interesting to the market on both their
passion and their skill set. This is
what's an important thing. I've thought
about this a lot cuz I wrote that book.
You and I agree on the passion and skill
set overlay.
>> Sure. I believe there's too much
competition and there's a lot of people
even though it's their biggest passion
and their biggest skill set that is not
a product market fit for real
monetization
>> like real monetization.
>> Sure.
>> I believe this random thing I'm talking
about back to what you said earlier.
This is where I'm going and this was the
thesis but I'm watching it evolve.
>> I uh there's a there's a piece of
content I made my I don't know if you
remember this. I made a piece of content
that said your niche is you.
>> Yes.
>> You remember that?
>> Sure.
>> Because that's really it. It's that
snowflake thing, right? Like the only
thing we really all the way have is
every piece of us.
>> Yes.
>> I think the combo we're having of the
combination of social and stan actually
allows everyone actually a fighting
chance to actually monetize that truth.
>> Can I give you an honest push back and
caveat and maybe I'm cynical and jaded?
>> I have all the data stand. We have all
the best creators, most successful
entrepreneurs using SN. So we have all
the data on like what works. The push
back I'd give you to to to really help
people think about this more.
>> I would argue you have the upper you
have the middle class and upper middle
class
>> which is which is the right. So Jimmy
Mr. B should go do this brand deals but
like the most successful entrepreneurs
who like own their own brand. That's
people like me that grew upper middle
like you know became upper middle class.
Um
>> this is the caveat I give you and so I'm
curious how you think through this. So,
it's very very hard to monetize
anything. People don't realize like you
have to post consistently. I'd say you
have the viral lawn mower video. I'm
skeptical that you'd have recurring when
I think of real business, you have
recurring revenue every single month
your business makes revenue around this
unless you consistently say you see the
lawnmower pattern and then you've
doubled down on it.
>> Yeah. And I would say that's absolut
first first of all that's 100% right and
this is getting to the essence of this
conversation that if you're the
[ __ ] that really like if you're
if you're daily random content is you
and your life to your point and I'm
going to actually agree with you. If
it's like the way I'm thinking about it
right now at least cuz that's what's so
weird about this podcast. Usually when
I'm doing a podcast whether it's mine or
I'm a guest I'm only talking about
things that are already formed.
>> What's happening now is like what I do
with AJ at like 11:00 at night on a
family vacation. We're like we're like
we're like bantering right now. So let
me let me So I'm gonna just I apologize.
I'm gonna agree with you. Like if if I'm
just gonna use myself because it's
always the easiest thing. If I'm like
eating my own dog food, I'm doing the
challenge and today cuz I do use a
toothpick. Like I I like using a
toothpick. I think it's funny and like I
think it's interesting so I use it,
right? If if today that was it and like
I put it on the ground. I'm like I just
use this toothpick. And like honestly
like big shout out toothpicks like
[ __ ] they're underrated. take away
the fact that I'm an entrepreneur and
probably could build a $50 million
toothpick business on the back of this.
To your point, and you're right, that
goes viral. I decide to do a guide like
I'm smart enough to layer it up and I
decide to do a guide to like mouth
hygiene or like I'm not just in
toothpick. Your point's right. I'm not
going to be able to sustain it where it
says now. That's what's super weird.
Where you really won me over though,
believe it or not, your product is going
to counter you
>> can offer anything. No, because it goes
back to AJ earlier. AJ, I don't think
was inherently passionate about people
walking side by side. I know AJ very
well. I don't think he wanted to punch
people that walk side by side. My point
here is when I Gary or anybody who's
listening does the toothpick thing, if
the product I'm selling on my stand
store is the community and hang out with
people that care about toothpicks at
three bucks a month, it Let me just
really play it out. So now a,000 people
sign up for that. I'm [ __ ] my pants.
Like I'm literally [ __ ] my pants.
Like I love John and Gary more than life
cuz I'm now I decided to do it for two
bucks and I'm making $2,000 a month. I'm
sure you have fees so it's not purely
2,000 but whatever the [ __ ]
>> No, it's it's literally just $29.
>> Okay, great. So I'm making $2,000 a
[ __ ] month. I'm like I cannot believe
this [ __ ] podcast I listened to 4
months ago has just I'm making $2,000 a
month. Next month it goes to 1300
because to your point like I didn't do
that much. I didn't know what the [ __ ]
to do with it. I didn't feed the farm.
Right.
But if you make 2,000 in that, most
people are going to watch what's
happening in that community. Like if
let's just keep playing because we got
time. I just did this. 2 thou a thousand
people are paying two bucks a month and
they're literally talking about
toothpicks and I'm like, "What the [ __ ]
is going on here?" But I'm making 2,000.
I have a funny feeling from 700 p.m. at
night to midnight, I'm just reading
every post and I'm probably jumping in
once in a while be like, "Yo, it's me."
Like, "Thanks for being here. I want
everyone to hear this cuz you're going
to love where I'm about to go. If you
have a half a brain, and I'm going to
fill out your other half brain right now
for you. If you're watching that, what
will happen is three people will emerge.
Anyone that's ever had a community in
their life on Discord, on forums in the
'9s like I did about wine knows that
your community becomes the mods, right?
So if you're toothpick guy, you see
this, you have no way to continue it
going. To your point, you're right. The
digital product selling the guide, no
way on the toothpick. The community
product you [ __ ] built,
even though I'm not part of it cuz it
was random. If I just give it 60 days,
watch how they all talk to each other
and message the 13 alphas in there. Get
on Zoom with them. Get a good feeling
for a couple of them. Offer them maybe
20% of the [ __ ] action or a,000 buck
100 bucks a month. Those mods can drive
it.
That's it.
>> And so, but let's play out this thesis.
>> Let's every I I think I'm just so tired
of get rich quick stuff. like everything
that I've realized in per if you want to
build something longterm let's say for
that community you you still are you
saying that you can just show up really
randomly and and share everything and
then you'll figure out your product and
then you should double down or you
saying broadly you'll have like a
>> I'll say a lot I'll say a lot of things
I mean to your point like everything
that has worked for me has been
predicated on the concept that
everyone's looking for get-rich quick
this isn't get rich quick this is
respond to a truth quickly
>> the truth is 3 million people found this
13-second toothpick video. Interesting.
>> Yeah,
>> I was smart enough to listen to the Gary
Vee Audio Experience, listen to the
episode with Stan. Decided, [ __ ] it. The
360 year is worth it. Is there a yearly
membership discount?
>> Yeah, it's like 20% off. Yeah,
>> even better. It works for my thesis. I
decided under 300 bucks is a good deal
for me to take the [ __ ] risk. I'm
going to [ __ ] with this. The Gary 2017
flip challenge worked for me. Gary's
[ __ ] Tik Tok thing worked for me.
[ __ ] it. Let me try this new [ __ ]
thing he's got.
that when you're in that place, yes,
there's going to be people like back to
AJ because it's fun. Golf, wrestling,
the passion. You and I are fully aligned
on the Crush It thesis. What I'm trying
to figure out in real time right now.
So, bear with me. By the way, AJ will
tell you this at the end of this
podcast. I might completely get off this
entire thesis cuz I'm play all cuz what
we're doing is playing the chess. Yeah,
that's So, I just giving you the warning
like this may end with me being that was
the stupidest [ __ ] and I'm happy that
you guys didn't hear it through, but
there's something that I'm trying to
think through. To your point, I think
that there's unlimited people that would
do this right now, and this is why I'm
so glad we're having this combo, that
would have the moment, and it's not
get-rich quick. They would actually
monetize, but it would dwindle and die
in an 8-month period, right?
>> They didn't continue investing in it.
>> Correct. And to our point, both of our
points, and the reason I'm agreeing with
you is for me, Gary Vaynerchuk, it would
be hard to continue to invest in the
toothpick thing. My counter to that was
the the content product is dead on
arrival to your point, right? I'm like,
that's right. The thing that got me
going was the community product doesn't
actually need me to be the most
passionate about it. I just have to be
the operator of the first 100 days to
find the four people in the community.
You You're basically f This is like no
[ __ ] What I'm saying is you're
going to find your future business
partner
because you made something random that
you're kind of not even that crazy
about. It goes into the community
product. They're the most passionate and
capable and they're loving life for
making 25% of the subscription revenue
to keep it going and you started it. So
you were the idea guy or gal, but the
operators you're talking about
operations.
There is nothing besides execution.
>> Yeah. Ideas do not beat execution. Ideas
with execution and the best idea blah
blah blah.
>> But execution always gets some sort of
result. Ideas, every [ __ ] person
listening right now shoots their [ __ ]
ideas with each other over dinner and do
nothing in their whole life.
>> Yeah.
>> What I'm saying is this is why I'm
obsessed with what you're building. You
have, you know, when I think of like
slogans like Stan has a product for
that.
>> Yes.
>> You have a product for this problem. I
just said the toothpick thing and spent
30 minutes on the written product or
theformational product. You if I didn't
know, thank God in the middle of my
ranting you brought up the community
product cuz I still have a lot to like
know every TN and say if I didn't know
that I would have stopped this
conversation be like you're right cuz
the toothpick thing as me being the
content producer would not work. The
community thing though, if I get a,000
people in there at a buck a month and I
spend the first 60 days to figure out
who the alphas and most passionate are,
DM them and set up Zoom, interview them,
and pick two of them. Potentially, some
people just do it for free cuz they
[ __ ] love anime so much. Potentially,
I'm smart enough to know like, "Fuck it.
Let me financially incentivize this
person." Hey, let's just play make
pretend me and you as kids. Hey, John,
you're into this game more than I am.
I'm, you know, would you I'll give you
30 cents of every dollar we make on
this. Can you, you know, can you just
continue running this as the main dog to
keep this [ __ ] feeding and going?
I'll make some more content a little
bit. Do you like [ __ ] there's scenarios
where somebody's listening who say,
"Hey, John, do you want 80% of this?
I'll just take 20% cuz I realize I'm
leaving after this."
>> Yeah.
>> Like this is very interesting to think
about.
>> Yeah.
>> So that's what I'm saying. I'm saying
there's a viable path for an
entrepreneurial tendency even for a mic
who I mean this I keep using Mike. I'm
not rzing him who maybe is not a
businessman. If he listens to this, does
it gets to Jersey Sure thing. I think
for Mike, knowing Mike, he can watch
that community for the first 3 months.
Pick Rudy who lives in [ __ ] Seaside
Heights. Give him 50 cents on the
dollar. It's very interesting to debate.
So, these are my thoughts to help you
really submit this and finalize this and
formulate it. What I what I agree with
you on is bring your whole self very
randomly. I think there's value in that.
allowing someone to figure out what is
the thing that they should monetize.
>> Agreed.
>> Where I am more skeptical is I see your
vision on how this could work with the
community piece at scale. Why I'm
skeptical of that is number one, if you
for example, if someone posts about
their jersey short and builds that
community and is passion about this can
continue to operate that slam. Correct.
But and and so I think most people
should go down that path and you're
you're thinking about like how do I
actually in this state of randomness
start to just pick out ideas that people
resonate with and then I'll find people
who to operate those communities.
>> Well, I'll tell you why I say that and
you're smart enough to know this. There
are a lot of people on earth
who started something and then handed it
off to someone. Yes. in whatever form,
family business, random employee, like
there there are people who've made real
money in the internet era of being kind
of a co-founder from an idea standpoint.
>> The ones that are not selfish.
>> Sure.
>> And real let's again let's say me you
and AJ were all good students, not just
you two and we were college roommates,
right? And I'm like and I like am in the
dorm room one day and I'm like, "Guys, I
have an idea." And let's say that idea
ends up being Uber [ __ ] actually AJ,
let's take it to the extreme. Garrett
Camp. Do you know who that is?
>> Yeah, of course. Okay, everybody.
Garrett Camp is the human be. I This is
I don't know how often I tell this
story. It's documented in a Business
Insight article. I, Gary Vaynerchuk, was
in a hotel room in Paris when Garrett
Camp told Travis, who is known as the
face of Uber, and 11 other of us, "Hey
guys, I have an idea. What do you think
about the idea of an iPhone app where
you can press a button and a limousine
will pick you up?
It's one of the most profound moments in
my life. There's Grab that. Grab it.
Grab it. I want you to grab it, John. I
want you to grab it. Take it to your
desk and I want you to read to the
podcast what that framed thing. Get
start with a date. Start with the date.
>> All right. Friday, April 8, 2011, 11 in
the morning from james at uber.com to AJ
Vanderchuk something something
something.com.
Hey AJ, I wanted to say thanks for being
our first This is [ __ ] insane, dude.
Hey Jay, I wanted to say thanks for
being our first ever Uber rider in New
York. How was your experience?
>> All right, there's more to that email,
but I just why I just had you do that
for effect is how early we were in Uber,
right? AJ, my brother forever. I have
literally goosebumps like when he's an
old man is like, by the way, now with
self-driving car like who the Uber is
going to seem like a [ __ ] horse with
a buggy by then, but AJ is literally the
first human being like this. I was
literally in the room when Uber was f
now Garrett had probably been thinking
about it, but it was the first time that
Garrett had articulated the idea. In
fact, the company was called Uber Cab.
In fact, Garrett came up with the idea.
Travis got brought into it and they
hired a third person to run it,
>> Ryan Graves.
>> And Ryan Graves got that job by me
retweeting Travis's job description cuz
he had 424 Twitter followers and I had a
lot more.
Ryan made billions. Garrett made the
most.
Garrett never ran anything but the idea.
So, real quick, like like just real
quick on that. That is Uber,
>> right? He's idea and put a couple things
in place and went. I am talking about
Mike.
I don't think Mike with his Jersey Shore
thing that I'm saying out is going to
make billions of dollars. But do I
believe that Mike on one Tik Tok with a
stand infrastructure around the Jersey
Shore if he decides to be as smart as
Garrett and realize let me give equity
to other people who are doing things
whether he keeps 10%
>> sure
>> of the community that makes 5,000 a
month
>> or he keeps 90 cuz his sister's willing
to do it or whatever the circumstances
of real life are.
>> Do and I can give you many more stories
than the Uber one and I know you know
this to be true. People hand off
businesses at very different stages.
Some people run a pet shop for 30 years
and they give the business to the
manager and they let the manager have
51% and they go to 49 and they [ __ ]
sit in Florida and get a check and the
manager's thrilled because the manager
was a [ __ ] kid that dropped out of
high school in an era where that was a
death sentence, not like today, and is
happy to send 49 cents of the dollar to
the original boss cuz he was grateful
for the opportunity. eventually he'll
have resentment because the at first
you're happy and then six years later
you're like wait a minute he hasn't been
around six years why am I still sending
him a check but do I believe that what
we just talked about which is super
interesting could lead to people who
have ideas and are creative to find
sustaining revenue if they're good
enough to hand it off to the mods that
think about how many mods in Discord and
forums were the actual reasons Reddit
dig I was there They were the actual
reasons [ __ ] happened. They made no
money. You know how people always make
fun of like, you know, Facebook and
Twitter, like they're making all the
money, but creators made money. Mods
made no [ __ ] money. If mods now
become business partners.
>> Yeah.
>> To what I'm talking about now, because
you can go viral and you can have this
stand tech stack and then you can put in
the work the first year to find your
partners.
Because what's happening in my story is
I'm just replacing the human that's
passionate about the Jersey Shore.
And I think that's really right. How
about that?
>> So then the skill set to teach people is
how to identify those operators and set
them up for success.
>> That's a different thing. That's right.
And you know what's so funny? If
somebody's ultra smart listening,
they're going to literally what you just
said triggered me cuz if I was a kid
listening to this podcast cuz I looked
up to Gary Vee and I'm interested in
John, like I would be like, "Oh, I'm
going to start courses on how to teach
to identify the operators." So everybody
who's about to do this with Gary Vee is
going to need me like and I'm going to
it's like a real meta move, you know?
>> That's super smart. That's super smart.
I see it. I still as you continue to
formalize that this thesis. I still I
fundamentally believe that if someone
posts for 365 days for if they if for
everyone listening to this, we have all
the data on who makes it. There is a
singular pattern. There's just one
pattern that we can correlate between
everyone. It's the actual life is just
literally never give up. But the
tactical manifestation of this is the
people who post every single day, even
if you're starting from zero, are the
ones who actually make it.
>> Correct? It's just your consistent
commitment to driving traffic, to
building an audience, learning how to
market yourself, and then your stands
for I promise you will make money as a
downstream of that. So, I fundamentally
believe in this challenge from that
perspective. And I like the random idea
because you're just going to figure out
from your own organic passions what that
is. And I believe you will find
something that you will want to commit a
lot of time to. I'm more skeptical and
maybe it's because I'm not wired this
way. The I I do believe you can be the
ID generator and spin stuff out with
operators.
>> But that by the way that is the end of
the entire debate.
>> Sure.
>> To your point,
>> I mean notice how this whole last 20
minutes started with me saying how many
people couldn't do Crush It.
>> True. All I've done is have an aha
moment here between where the algorithms
are in social and what you've built
>> that literally everyone can if they
follow like what I just did was not
saying by the way the first part that
you said like back to crush it that's
the better one.
>> Yeah.
>> Like if you're a savant about wrestling
and you love it so much like you can
make a million dollars a year or or h
100,000 a year like being in the
wrestling content like for damn sure
community content for damn sure. I'm
just saying that there's a lot of people
that aren't. And the fact that I just
literally thought process the jam
session into how I can get the least
entrepreneurial,
most creative people. Do you know how
many [ __ ] artists there are, John?
>> I think every human is an artist.
>> Fair. But you know where I'm going,
right? Let's go the cliche thing. The
starving artists. The amount of people
living in Brooklyn right now.
>> Yeah. that are [ __ ] unbelievably
interesting, super creative, think
different, but do not have an
entrepreneurial bone in their body. You
know, when we get into these political
times where everyone's like, "Yeah,
let's [ __ ] with communism, you know,
like that kind of stuff." I love looking
at that. You know, I was born in
communism, so I love looking at it. I'm
very empathetic. I do believe separation
of wealth is a real issue. Like, I think
about these things, but obviously I'm
[ __ ] entrepreneur. Like, I I also
believe like the government like like I
believe in merit and, you know, the
human race. Um, but when you look so
many people fit, this is why I'm so
excited about this. The people that are
like, "Yeah, [ __ ] it." Like, "Let's
shoot every billionaire in the face and
let's let the government [ __ ] take
care of us." are the people I'm most
excited for for what I'm talking about
right now because they actually are way
more creative than a lot of business
people. And the tech is starting to
catch like right now. And I'm like,
"Holy fuck."
That cliche person in Brooklyn who's
like, "Let's move to the USSR."
Is often times the person that [ __ ]
knows the most about pickling in the
world.
>> Sure.
>> Tattooed, sleeved out, pickling [ __ ]
genius
who literally posts about pickling and
now has $9 a month people at scale and
they aren't entrepreneurial. They don't
know how to do that part. They know the
art. And the fact because you know this
on the passion part if they still lack
complete business savvy it's still going
to be like a slog like from the creative
it's going to be a slog for them to sell
a $9 a month book even if they're like
[ __ ] savante about I always say this
the thousand best books ever written
nobody knows cuz they didn't sell.
>> Yeah
>> right. the fact that you have a
community product that can get 10,000
picklers in there for a buck and if
she's or he is listening to me right now
and is really picking up what I'm
putting down that when this moment
happens they just need to pick two or
three minority or majority partners from
the community that are driving the
community that is viable in a way that
I've never seen before an hour ago.
I
>> I think you're you're coming upon the
thesis that I I've always believed is
like everyone has something to monetize.
It's just about whether or not they have
the tools and also the educational path
to do so. And so that's what we give
through Stan is all the tools you need
for the most affordable price out there.
And on top of that, then now we have
Gary Vee teaching you how to actually
do.
>> And I would tell you that everybody has
something that's monetizable. Not
everybody has monetizable capabilities,
even with education.
>> That's the part that I'm like freaking
out on. You see where I'm going,
brother? That's the That's the part that
I'm like, wait a minute. This Garrett
Camp thing is crazy. I'm dead right
about this. I I lived it. I literally
watched Garrett Camp idea it and get the
[ __ ] out. He was very lightly involved.
Ryan came and then Travis really came
and Travis did the whole [ __ ] thing.
And Garrett, I'm sure I don't know this
detail, but I'm sure Travis and Garrett
had dinners and they would debate. I
Travis [ __ ] built it.
>> Yeah,
>> Travis [ __ ] built it.
>> Travis [ __ ] built
>> government and fighting
>> and everything else and like hitting up
me about like should we do petty cabs
and like he not only you know this I
always give him credits. I don't fight
city hall. I don't have that stomach.
So, I could have never been the CEO of
Uber. Travis, like he did everything.
Travis is Uber. Garrett made the most
money. The pickle lady that I just
talked about in Brooklyn, she could be
the Garrett Camp of her community on
stand. That blows my mind. That's why
I've been talking for an hour straight
on this. This is like crazy to me. All
the other parts were obvious. This is
where
>> it could change everyone's life. That's
a big deal to me
>> because because I think I can teach and
I think you could make a great tool. I
really mean this like I think you could
make the best sword and I could be the
best fencing teacher in the world and I
still don't believe everyone will then
get decent at fencing.
>> So then we'll help other we'll help
those people find a fencer.
>> Correct. That's what's freaking me out
about the community product through the
lens of the content product. No. No. cuz
I can't write about fencing through the
lens of like I made a viral piece of
content about fencing. Now there's 84
people in my stand $3 a month fencing
community. I watch it. I see Sally is
like [ __ ] posting 13 times a day. I
DM her. I get on Zoom with her. We talk.
I'm like, "Sally, do you want 50 cents
of every dollar here of what I created?"
Sally's going to say yes cuz she's the
alpha community person.
Sally then takes it from 84 to 800
people and it's a nice little [ __ ]
side fund for everyone. That is
replicatable for literally every human
on Earth. I believe that. That's crazy
to me.
>> I love it.
>> That's [ __ ] crazy to me. Straight up.
All right, I completely derailed
everything on this random idea. What
have we not touched on given that I've
been in an hour 30 minute haze of like
excitement about this? What have we not
touched on, John, so far that you would
like to touch on a little more for
instances to help people think? Uh,
we've talked about your two most popular
products. Can you talk about number
three and four in the tech stack? Cuz
everybody, if you're listening, to me,
this is the ultimate $29 Swiss Army
knife. Like, we just talked about the
scissors and the screwdriver, but if you
know a Swiss Army knife, there's other
things.
>> I want to touch everyone in this
podcast. What What's number three and
four? So I I think I can I think I can
end it with this which is number three
and number four are booking some sort of
call on your calendar and then the the
number four is specifically doing a
webinar which is an atscale version of
that. Point being is every single medium
through which you think you can convert
a customer whether it's getting on the
phone with you and paying for a live
coaching call or doing a discovery call
or it's selling them an or giving out a
freebie or selling them a low ticket
digital product or a big course that's
$1,000 or doing a community. Everything
you need, you have as a Swiss Army knife
tool with Stan. What I think is more
important to show people is the four
instances we gave. Whether it's, you
know, Janessa Harris moving across the
country from Hawaii to to the east coast
escaping an abusive relationship by
building her online coaching business
through Stan and and getting to move her
child with her. Or it's, you know, the
example of Stone I gave who was 18 years
old. Or it's and made 100K in his first
month. Or it's Eddie Abby at 65 teach
people how to stay fit. Whatever your
story is and whatever your passion is,
my promise to you is that nowadays
there's at least one to 10 to probably a
couple hundred people in your specific
passion that are making real full-time
incomes on stand. And so with that
context being said, I fundamentally
believe, especially now with you
involved, Gary, that like this is the
new wave. I also do believe there's an
an arbitrage and an alpha moment, which
is like at some point it's the attention
economy. There's a certain amount of
zero sum attention. I believe that one
needs to move sooner as in right now
rather than later to actually grab that
attention because there is first mover
advantage to things and so now is the
time if you've been questioning at all
whether or not to do it like this
hopefully can be your sign to do that
thing. You've seen Gary do it for a
decade plus um this is what Stan's all
about and we make it as afford
affordable as possible as easy as
possible and we're here to support you.
>> Where do people go?
>> Standout store. That's it. Sign up for
your free trial. Gary's going to be
doing a lot of stuff with us. So
everybody ple uh you can tell uh so just
to give clarity on the book end. So AJ
and I got involved as investors and and
advisers and like and again deeper than
that. This is kind of like the first
foray into this. So I'm really excited
about it. So if you have any questions,
hit me up about it. You can uh I'm going
to figure out a way to like siphon all
my inbounds to this proper people on the
stand team. That's another thing we just
made up on the spot. So John, tell me
who to send things to. Uh, and uh, yeah,
we're we're uh, we're going to hang up
here now and start having a working
session to figure out more things and
more challenges and more stuff for the
for the holiday season and new year, new
you. I mean, I think for a lot of you, a
lot of people are going to actually
stumble on this podcast in November,
December. I always think those last
seven or eight days of the year, people
are like thinking about like, uh, 2026,
like am I happy about it or am I
devastated about it? And so, a lot of
stuff to come, but John, thank you so
much.
>> Thank you, Gary. Let's build.
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