Gary Vee is a snake oil salesman. He knows the right things to say and he's incredibly charismatic. But from a business point of view, his hustle-porn guru business is way more successful than anything he did previous to that. Sure he's a successful business person but he wasn't something special. It was his "motivational talks" that are his real claim to fame, so he's basically famous for being famous.

My anecdote is that people I come across who quote him tend to have a lot of anxiety and pent-up energy around the idea of wanting to be in business but they don't have an idea, skill, or plan.

So, the business proverbs they live by both give them hope and amplify their anxiety that their opportunity is slipping away with each day that they're not hustling.

> the idea of wanting to be in business but they don't have an idea, skill, or plan.

Speaking as someone who just does what he enjoys doing and ended up with a marginally successful business as a result, I have to say that I genuinely don't get this mindset.

Then again I don't "hustle" either. I (and my employees) just write code that solves problems and creates value for bigger businesses and they pay me good money for it.

Spot on with this one. Now that I think about it, it makes so much sense thinking of some peeps I know. Never really got GV and usually can't stand people preaching too much to other about success.

Gary Vee only preaches hustle if you're not happy with where you're at. And it isn't necessarily hustle to make more money. It's hustle to do what you want to do so that you are happy. If you are already happy, he just encourages you to "keep doing you".

> Gary Vee only preaches hustle if you're not happy with where you're at.

I find this phrase trite and full of significance at the same time.

Much of existentialism is an investigation of anguish — the permanent, low-lying anxiety of existing and trying to find meaning in life. This anxiety comes from, and is the process of, realizing one's potential.

Thus, anyone who realizes that their current station in life is not the top of their potential is bound to not be happy with where they're at.

This is not just in business and money. You can be anxious about not having enough fulfilling friendships or spending meaningful time with your children, or any other thing you value highly. Many people give up on stressful business enterprises, but move their anxiety towards other targets — family life, politics, future events, or specific interests.

Conversely, only those who do not realize the gap between their potential and their current situation will be satisfied. The more qualified and diligent you are, the more likely you are to be aware that you're not your best yet.

It takes active work ("hustle" of sorts) to be diligent and unworrying: meditation, therapy, etc.

I definitely agree with your assessment. Gary talks about "unworrying" part a lot, actually. Comparison is the thief of joy. If you compare yourself to others or "what you could have been / could still be", you're not gonna be happy with yourself. There is something "zen" about not being too worried/anxious about fulfilling your potential, but yet still driven enough to go out and improve yourself.

That's a platitude we hear so much that it no longer means anything. I think people crave the validation that their hustle will make them happy. And they hear it so much on so many channels that they confuse it with happiness

He grew his father's liquor store 20x before anyone knew who he was. Your third sentence is a weird way to say he's built upon that early success. As far as, "his real claim to fame," he's responsible for the most recent Planter's Peanuts Superbowl commercial and a pretty big Budweiser basketball campaign. If you think his keynotes have a bigger impact that's a matter than could be debated.

I've been involved in an industry (stock day trading) that is rife with "gurus" like Gary Vee. There are hundreds of gurus that talk with EXTREME confidence and tell you the ways of how to be successful. Gary Vee is exactly like these people. They talk with confidence about how their techniques will work, and they have fans and followers that believe everything they say hook, line, and sinker. And in fact, teaching how to trade is a much more lucrative business than actually trading for these "gurus".

Gary Vee is a successful businessman. He built upon an existing business and made it more successful, that's a great accomplishment. I wish I had 10% of his success. But he's not a guru, he is nowhere near elite. Plenty of people have done more impressive things than him but the memes around him being some sort of guru on being an entrepreneur are far more outsized than his actual success. But the way his followers treat him is completely disproportional to what his actual successes are.

Plenty of people would sacrifice 10 years of their life for private jet type money. The problem is there is no guarantee that putting in the time and effort will result in that kind of money. It will probably at least equal decent money, but decent money isn't private jet money and I'd agree that decent money isn't worth a decade of my life.

Totally - it almost inevitably doesn't work out positively, but even amongst the survivorship bias of the stories we're spun by these people they focus on the all-nighters and the sacrifices of the successful.

Obviously on the flip side there are the other snake-oil salesmen selling you "work from a beach doing nothing" crap, but there's definitely a middle point of highlighting the success of people who did the minimum they possibly could to succeed.

I think this is often what Gary Vee is misjudged on. I've listened to more than a few of his talks, read his books, and find his message is that you should throw your all in, if that's what you want. If you want to have your Saturdays with your kids, go do that. Matt D'Avella had an interview with Gary Vee that acknowledges this. He seems to be very much about living your own life and not subscribing to the hype.

"Are you doing something you enjoy to do? Happiness and fulfillment has to become a much bigger part of the conversation than financial upside. I'm always very hurt when people think that I'm pushing hustle and too much work."[1]

[1]: https://youtu.be/nhMuBEvopk8?t=298

The problem with what you want is that a lot of times you think you do know it, you've heard so many success stories and subconsciously you follow the herd, but in reality what you really want is yet to be discovered. Once you have truly found what you want, what you're natural at, you don't need any more validation.

not sure why you're being downvoted. You even cited a source! I agree that his content is mostly "hustle your face off" IF you're NOT happy, and he only occasionally talks about what to do IF you ARE happy (which is keep doing what you're doing).

Gary Vee is the anti-vaxer equivalent of "hustle culture" - you'd learn more about business listening to one of Michael Eric Dyson's unintelligible rants than listening to Gary Vee...

He has no understanding of the notion that working hard is supposed to compound your productivity not always be the way you go about life...

This is the perfect description of Gary Vee.

The idea "If I work hard enough I can get what I want" is appealing because it means your end goals are possible.

> Sacrificed evening meals with your partner and kids, missed spending time with your parents before they got old, and generally only commit to "quality time" (which is largely bullshit) for self and social care? Nah thanks pal.

"Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? Fuck you! Go home and play with your kids."

Hustle porn comes from the idea that if you take your eyes off the prize, someone who wants it more than you is going to work harder for it, come up and take it from you.

what is hustle porn ?

Articles about how hard you worked, how you went above and beyond and slept at work, etc. Sort of like comic books that are "torture porn": how long can Batman/ Wolverine/ Daredevil suffer like this before we get a cathartic end?

After a lifetime of Catholic schooling, the appeal to me seems deeply rooted in something about being crucified. Which doesn't really seem enjoyable, but YMMV.

Thank you!

Great comment - I like you!! :)