Culture, Marketing, and the Truth About Winning | Gary Vaynerchuk

Andrew (00:00)

So what… Is there a symbolic meaning for these rubber ducks or plastic ducks? These little guys that are left on jeep… Is it just Jeep Wranglers? Yeah. And what does that If you have a Jeep Cherokee, don’t you dare wave at me. Okay. Don’t you dare. No, so I understand…

When I was a kid, my dad had a Jeep Wrangler. He had a little midlife crisis, got himself a rag top Jeep Wrangler and it was freaking great because I was a senior in high school at the time so I got to use the Jeep Wrangler. He wasn’t using it. Drive it around as cool as I could be which wasn’t very but I had the Jeep. And your Aqua De Geo? Yeah, go ahead.

as an outsider, that there’s a number of different things for this Jeep community. There’s the wave from Wrangler to Wrangler. Yep. There’s these ducks.

that are only from Wrangler to Wrangler as well. Yep. And I’ve also heard of some type of hidden image or… yeah, it’s like an animal oftentimes. On a Jeep. Yeah. Now is that just the Wrangler also? I believe so. Have you found yours? So some of them I think are… It’s just the Wrangler Jeep that you find in different places?

But some of them have like, I think a lizard. And I don’t remember what else.

So three different ways of communicating from Wrangler owner to Wrangler owner. Yeah.

If you’re given a duck, can you then give that duck to another Wrangler? How does all this work?

Welcome back to No Vacancy brought to you by Access Self Storage. Today’s guest is someone who doesn’t just follow trends. He sees where attention is going before the rest of us even know it exists. From building wine library into a national brand to early investments in companies like Facebook, Uber, and Coinbase, Gary Vaynerchuk has built a career on understanding consumer behavior at scale. So today we’re taking that lens and applying it to an industry that doesn’t always think of itself this way,

self storage.

Now, in terms of the ducks… Yeah. I have no idea. No idea what? Of any of it. Like, why the duck? Do you…? I do partake sometimes.

So what’s the duck situation in your car? In your Wrangler, excuse me. I’m thinking I have 10 to 12. But only three of those were acquired by other Wrangler drivers. Wait a minute. What do mean by that? You mean only three other Wrangler drivers gave you ducks? That’s correct. The other eight or nine. Kayden and Bryce.

Is that, that seems little bush league to me. What? That seems a little bush league. you’re… that you’re, you’re, you’re, ⁓ bringing in home court ducks. I agree. Well, I mean, who’s going to tell these children, you know, that this isn’t the right thing? I tried and then Lee was like, they got them for you. So I felt kind of bad. And now they’re on my, and now they’re on my dash.

I mean, I don’t know anything about the history of this whole duck wrangler situation, but is nothing sacred?

Gary (03:39)

Then.

Andrew (03:40)

Good morning sir. Morning Gary. How are you?

Gary (03:41)

How are you?

Hanging in.

Andrew (03:43)

We appreciate you hopping on with us, Gary.

Gary (03:45)

I’m really happy to be with you.

Andrew (03:46)

It’s been a while. means a lot for you to hop on with us.

Gary (03:50)

We’re

happy to do it, brother.

Andrew (03:51)

Thanks, Harry. I’m Chris. You know, Andrew, this is Brian over here. Good day. Thank you so much for your time. We want to get right to it if that’s all right with you. We want to keep it productive. OK, great. We’re in the self-storage industry, fairly commoditized industry. What do you think the best way for a fairly commoditized industry to go about building a culture?

Gary (03:59)

Please.

culture, an internal culture.

Andrew (04:13)

Yeah, it’s the best way to get that started. And do you think it’s valuable for a commodity like self storage?

Gary (04:20)

Yeah, I I would argue most businesses are actually a commodity. That most businesses actually have enough different competitors that there’s optionality for the end consumer, which then creates the framework of commodity. And I would argue that most businesses will shine.

predicated on two things, culture and marketing. Right? And so if you’re selling a commodity, which again, I’m gonna sit here and argue almost everything is, ⁓ going about building a culture is no different in any company, which is what is the intent of the actual leader? Does the actual leader give any craps about their people? Or is it all about selfish need for them to maximize all the money for themselves and buy whatever they

Andrew (04:59)

you

Gary (05:08)

they

need to buy to close the gap of their insecurities. So, you know, I think it’s effort. I think it’s mindset. And I think it’s actually living the bullshit that comes out of your mouth.

Andrew (05:20)

Yeah, absolutely. In that same vein, you seem to be a very empathetic person. The way through a good life is to be an empath. Is that teachable?

Gary (05:31)

That’s a really darn good question. Boy, this is a challenging one because nobody has tried to teach it more than me. And I don’t mean the Gary Vee content you’ve all seen for the last 15, 10 years. I mean, Gary Vaynerchuk from the ages of 14 to 34, trying to deploy it into his favorite person, his father, Sasha Vaynerchuk. My dad is incredibly compassionate, has a real like soft spot, but

Andrew (05:55)

Bye.

Mm.

Gary (06:01)

He does not have empathy. He has

complete inability to feel another person’s feelings. I spent 20 years, 15 hours a day trying to impose it, educate on it.

teach it, and I would say that like everything in life, I think my father has come along tremendously by my subjective opinion of something I really wished on him, because I do think it is the path to a happier life, but I do think it’s like sports or like singing or like anything in life. I think we need to face the truth that we are all born with DNA, we are all raised a certain way, we have an environment outside of our parenting in our home that also impacts us in our youth, and then you kind of form into what you

you

are in your early teenage years, young years, and then you start the process of like, what do you wanna work on, right? Like, you know, it took me into my late 40s, mid 40s to realize candor was a strength publicly and a weakness privately. ⁓

Andrew (06:51)

Sure, yep.

Hmm. Wow.

Gary (07:02)

the last five to seven years, I’ve gotten much better at candor, but I’ve gone from like a two to like six. And like, do I think I’ll ever be as candorous as my father, which is a strength of his, other than the delivery mechanism he’s decided to use for his candor? ⁓ I would say no, I don’t think I can be as candorous as my father, even in the 70s when I hope to be at the height of my candorous powers. So,

Andrew (07:20)

Great.

Gary (07:32)

Yes, I think empathy can be taught, but I do think that we all have ceilings on physical and emotional capabilities, but I think we should always be trying to be a better tennis player or golfer, cooker, empath, sympathetic, accountable, patient, all those things.

Andrew (07:48)

Yeah.

Have you ever, regarding empathy going back to that, have you ever considered that once you had kids that that empathy and way of looking at it even increased more?

Gary (08:04)

No, I don’t believe that is true for me. I’m sure it has happened for some because I was born selfless. So I think I’ve noticed in friends and family and acquaintances and through all that I read and watch the culture, inherently, insanely selfish people.

that are often selfish because they’re insecure, when they have a child, it becomes the first moment where they think about someone else beside themselves.

Andrew (08:35)

Yeah.

Gary (08:35)

but I don’t believe that they become inherently more empathetic. I surely did not become more selfless because of my children. I was born selfless and then I was raised by a selfless woman who imposed even more selflessness. So I was kind of at end state. I didn’t feel any different, but I’ve seen it in many, but I think it’s more of a selfish, selfless framework more so than more empathy.

Andrew (09:02)

Gotcha. ⁓ What do you think that the self-storage company could do immediately to change their culture today? If you were to take over a self-storage company, is there an immediate impact that your outlook ⁓ would bring?

Gary (09:08)

Yes.

I mean, you know, I believe that kind, optimistic, practical leadership is rare. And when it happens, you see a lot of success around it. And, you know, I’ve been the beneficiary of that. And I say those things because I don’t feel like I did that. I feel like my mother did that. You know, my father, my circumstances. So I say that not humbly. I say that as if it’s not even my own credit, but that is what I am. And when I see it in others, I’ve invested in companies that have it.

know, like it’s a winning formula. So, you know, if, if, if I went to every self storage company in the country or in the world, my intuition is that 90 % of them, minimally are not run by someone who is deeply optimistic, deeply practical, wildly accountable and prefers sunshines and rainbows as their leadership style versus scaring people that if we don’t hit the numbers this month, they might be in trouble. You know, most leaders weaponize fear

Andrew (10:18)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gary (10:20)

is optimism.

⁓ And so yeah, of course I would impact it. And then if I was, let’s say, on the board of a company, not the actual CEO, and the CEO was actually one of those people, but the culture wasn’t great, what would be very obvious to me is that she or he has a direct report that’s very senior, that is not positive, they are negative, forced to the company, but that the CEO looked the other way because she or he is the best salesman,

and

they need them for X, Y, and Z. And so I would tell everybody who’s listening to this podcast, some of you are well-intended and want a great culture, but your right hand or your left hand is doing the dirty work for you, and you’re allowing them to do that because you need the dirty work in your mind, and or they’re not doing the dirty work for you, they’re fucking up the culture, but you’re looking the other way because they’re the biggest impact on the P and L besides you. And I would tell you that cancer spreads, and you

must cut out cancer at all costs, even when it’s painful.

Andrew (11:26)

⁓ Yeah, Sometimes it’s tough to make that sacrifice, but you have to do it for the greater good.

Gary (11:32)

Yeah, and

if the greater good is that you wanna sleep, like for me, again, this is just like pure, like this is why my life is light. I’m just fortunate emotionally, meaning for me the greater good is I don’t sleep well at night if there’s negative, you know, I’m visceral to negativity. So.

Andrew (11:51)

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Gary (11:53)

It’s not very hard for me to like live, like I would say I’m probably inappropriately visceral to it, right? There’s probably a balance, right? But I just don’t like it. I don’t think it’s worth it. And for me, I don’t…

I’ve had years where we, three years ago at Vayner, we barely made any money compared to what we should have. I made a lot of decisions that didn’t pan out to the following year, so we had a bad PNL year, right? I slept like a baby all year. I didn’t give a fuck that we weren’t gonna make money. But when there’s like one new hire, that’s awesome, but she or he’s a jerk, and like I know that I have to like, and I do business in London, LA, New York.

Andrew (12:17)

Mm-hmm.

Gary (12:33)

Like there’s a lot of bullshit laws for businesses. I know I have to, I know that the person’s already fired in my brain, but I know I have to cross all the T’s legally and do all the right things. And they’re going to be in my halls for another two months doing damage, undermining the culture. That keeps me up at night. So the greater good for me is the culture. And then the money comes in my opinion. But for a lot of people, they aren’t as financially

Andrew (12:42)

Sure.

Gary (13:00)

and fiscally and building a business capable as I am so they don’t have the fat for it to be about the culture, right? That if they fire Sam, the best salesperson, the business might really actually tank. So it’s all nice and games here on a podcast, me talking about rainbows and sunshine, but then there’s real life. My point to that leader is, Sam’s gonna fuck you in the end anyway.

Andrew (13:08)

next order.

camera.

Right.

Gary (13:24)

Sam’s gonna cap

the business anyway. So you gotta find Sally to replace Sam along the way. You need to be interviewing every day for the replacement. looking underneath Sam, Sam’s direct report, Carl, might be a sweetheart. She says he stinks because she’s suppressing him, but he’s actually capable of doing the job. This is real life human management.

Andrew (13:44)

Yeah. Culture is a long game though, do you think?

Yeah. For sure.

Gary (13:48)

I know. Culture is playing the long game.

Andrew (13:52)

Yeah. Every day.

Gary (13:53)

Right, not playing culture is the short game. You’re choosing money over feelings. Fine, I get it. In the end, the feelings of the team is gonna matter because where companies get caught a lot, where I get emails after doing podcasts like this is like, you’re so right and you know what it is? It’s everything was going great for seven years, then four people quit because the stamp sucked and everything fell apart.

Andrew (13:59)

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Gary (14:18)

So it doesn’t feel bad those seven years where you’re making more money than you would have, especially for bosses that, you know, I’m an active boss. Some people are not active bosses. So the spam allows them to play golf today on a sunny day, leave early to watch the NFL draft tonight. Like they get the benefits, buy a second home down the shore. But then when it all falls apart, oof.

Andrew (14:40)

Right. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a tough dig out after,

after it falls apart, writing that ship, telling everybody that Sam wasn’t the right person at the time, but that’s, that’s a, that’s quite a hill.

Andrew Rockoff (14:51)

No Vacancy is the self-storage podcast that pulls back the roll-up door on the industry’s most outrageous stories, toughest challenges, and unexpected laughs. Hosted by the team at Access Self Storage, each episode brings together real operators, sharp marketers, and off-the-wall personalities to talk about what really goes on behind the gate code. From crazy tenant tales to hard-won lessons in customer service, it’s raw, unfiltered,

and a little irreverent, just like life in storage.

Andrew (15:26)

so you mentioned culture. You mentioned the NFL draft. I’d be remiss to ask you about the jets.

I see you’re decked out in green. Yes, sir.

is buying the jets.

a viable goal for you?

And where are you with that plan?

Before you answer that, Gary.

As a Dolphins fan, I hope you never buy the jets because I think that you really would write the ship over there. think there is a culture issue going on. I think that’s kind of appropriate with the conversation we’re having here, but I just wanted to sneak in that as a Dolphins fan, I really hope that never happens. And for you, I hope it does happen.

Gary (16:03)

that is very flattering. You know, one of the,

I hate the guy, but he delivered one of the nice, biggest compliments of my life. Bob Kraft came up to me at a Super Bowl event and said, I really hope you never buy them. ⁓ I would say, I would say a couple things. Is it viable? You know, the private equity.

Andrew (16:17)

Wow. Incredible.

Gary (16:26)

thing that happened recently has definitely thrown a little bit of a curve ball because now the valuations are gonna go to the moon because you can sell fractionalizations to finance. look, I don’t know. Like, you know, I’ve said this a lot publicly. The great joy of my life is chasing the buy. You know, I’ve said this a lot also publicly when the Yankees and Rangers won their championships, I stopped caring. So I, I’ve learned a long time ago that I’m a thrill of the hunt guy.

Andrew (16:44)

Yeah. Right.

Gary (16:55)

Even as a child, this is really silly. When I was in grammar school and middle school…

I was like, I loved to try to get the girl that liked, that I liked to like me. But then when it would happen, A, at that age, at that age, I was still scared of girls. So I’d be like, no way, Jose. But, you know, in everything I’ve done, you know, building my father’s business before I left it, like I’ve always been in it for the game. So, you know, there’s always a sick part of me that hopes it’s always just like, you know, that I like set me to it. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew (17:07)

You

Yeah.

Just one wrong too far

Gary (17:27)

But I feel in my 70s, 80s, 90s, whenever I’m triggered into a version of not 101 % pure offense, but maybe 90 % offense, that will be an interesting chapter in my life where it’ll be interesting to see what I’m willing to do to get something, listen, if the jet’s ever come up, I’m gonna make a real effort, right? ⁓

I can only focus on creating the wealth. I’ve got some work to do, but listen, and by the way, this is a great way to end. Everyone should have massive dreams.

I’m talking about personally and professionally because I think when you stretch yourself for very big dreams, right? I’ll give you a good dream on the other side of pillow. I want to be a mother I’m a working mother on the bread winner for the home But I want to be home for dinner every night with my kids even though I’m a CEO of a public company and I’ll go right back out and I would say that’s a big dream. That’s hard, right? That what I just said is hard You know, I want to

Andrew (18:03)

Yeah.

Yeah. Sure.

Gary (18:29)

I’ll go leisure again. I want to play golf every Friday. Like I got all these responsibilities, family, business, but I’m to play golf every, like that’s a hard, people don’t realize that’s hard. The more you push yourself, obviously mine professionally has been ludicrous. When I did it in fourth grade, even through high school, even through college, even through my early twenties.

These values were not that absurd. It wasn’t the thing it became. I was right. I was right that sports was gonna become the beacon of our society. To answer your question, for some reason I think I’m gonna pull it off.

Andrew (18:57)

Yeah.

Yeah, Yeah. I hope it takes a little while for my sake. Gary, I know we’re up against the end of your time here, but we have a theme on this podcast. We do. Do you have one minute for a light round for us? Can we fire match it? All right. First concert you ever attended.

Gary (19:08)

Thank

Yeah, I got a problem. Yes. Yes, I’ll do that.

⁓ Boys to men.

Andrew (19:23)

Nice. Most recent concert you ever attended.

Gary (19:26)

That’s a great question. did I go to? Kygo at the garden.

Andrew (19:31)

⁓ very nice. Good show.

Gary (19:32)

Yeah, it was great.

Andrew (19:33)

⁓ Any baseball card that you sold as a child that you wish you had today that you remember

Gary (19:38)

⁓ 84 Don Russ, Don Mattingly, that was sharp as hell that I bet you would have PSA 10ed.

Andrew (19:47)

Morning beverage of choice.

Gary (19:51)

black coffee with a little bit of half and half.

Andrew (19:53)

Jett’s gonna draft love tonight or are they taking an edge?

Gary (19:56)

I think we’re gonna take Bailey.

Andrew (19:58)

Okay, they need the defense.

Gary (19:59)

Yeah, I they’re gonna take Bailey and then with the first pick, think he’s, I’m hearing from good sources that it might be Bailey over Reese and then my hope is they get Tate somehow. That’s on my mind.

Andrew (20:10)

Yeah.

Yeah. That’s all we got, Gary. Appreciate your time, Thank you so much for your time. Take care.

Gary (20:14)

Love you all, stay well.

Andrew (20:17)

know, he puts so much positivity out into the world that is really what I like most about him. Probably why 50 million people find Gary’s content so engaging is that, you know, he touches on the things that…

I think it’s uncomfortable, right? He challenges so many assumptions about business that it’s gotta be, like you said, most businesses are commoditized. Most businesses are affected by a leader who cares way more about the P &L and the bottom line than they do about the path to get there. And I think the overarching theme that I take in the most from his stuff is that, you know, it’s about the journey, not the destination or whatever other cliche you wanna use to…

to fit there and I think that…

It just resonates so well and is so in alignment with Axis Self Storage and what we do. I mean, 50 years in business this year, and he talked a lot about how the leader is really what sets that tone. I’ve been here for 15 years and I’ve talked about it a bunch of times that ultimately our founders and Foy, who continues to lead the company, is whether

it’s like intentional or not, it’s organic. And so it just, it trickles down, you know, her, her compassion and empathy and caring for the people that deliver our product and service to the consumers every day. how she cares for them first over the bottom line and the decisions that she’s willing to make that would say like, Hey, I know that this isn’t the thing that’s going to drive more dollars to the bottom, right? It’s what’s best for our company, the greater good, whether it’s.

the people or just the culture in general. Yeah. It’s huge. It’s everything. And it’s really unspoken too. You know, it’s like, it’s like a, like a mentorship that’s happening, but until you have the ability to step back and take a look at it, you really have no idea that it’s happening to you or with you or for you. Yeah. Incredible. would agree with that. It’s not. Yeah. It’s, it’s not always formalized. It’s yeah, but it’s just consistency over time.

people and culture are first here. Yeah. And bottom line is second.

this company has provided for all of us. But then seeing, you know, when we talk about how long we’ve all been here, what the company has done for us and helped us grow as our own families. know, when you started, were 25, single, you know, you married kids, You know, it’s been a whole lifetime.

of change for a lot of us here. it’s just… And it’s not like, it’s not just the change, right? Like it’s the flexibility of being there for big events, for family, even outside of Access, you know, being able to like see my kid walk for the first time because we have that.

you know, that flexibility of, either working remote here and there or whatever. And the understanding and the empathy of our, they haven’t forgotten. Right. They’ve all been through those things too. And they know, they understand that these things are very important for moms and dads and families. you know, they do understand that times are changing also, because I think more people,

have really as we all have heard over the last number of years that work-life balance is so important and not a whole lot of companies are flexible with that, know, or have that much of an understanding.

For everyone listening, if you’re in self storage or any business where it’s easy to blend in, this is your reminder. Attention, brand, and trust are the real differentiators. If you got value out of this, make sure to subscribe, share it with someone in the industry, and we’ll see you next time on No Vacancy.