One is Greater than Zero
The GaryVee Audio Experience
Gary Vaynerchuk
4.8 • 18.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2015
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It baffles me to see how many people think they are bigger than they actually are.
People will ask me questions like "How do I get into the New York Times?" or "How do I get a meeting with that CEO?"
My reply? One is better than zero.
You need to be thinking about the steps it takes to actually get to the biggest places in the world. Before you get that meeting with Zuckerberg or Mark Cuban, or whoever you want to meet with, you need to have a lot of little meetings. You have to build up your cadence.
I've been on Conan. Ellen. The Today Show.
But I also did a thousand interviews that got one or nineteen or 137 views on YouTube. Max. Why did I do blog posts for so long that only had six readers? Why do I guest on shows with a smaller audience base than my own? Because I'm all about depth over width. I want to go deeper with my community. I want to give back to people who support me.
Even today, when I have more leverage than I did three years ago, I still live under the motto of one is greater than zero. To me, doing these interviews or guest posts is about the process of the work. Too many people are impatient and not willing to do that work. When you're still making the climb, when you haven't made your name known yet, you need to put in that work. I did those 119 and 137 view videos day in and day out. And I continue to.
You might make a video with 89 views. But one of those viewers could be a producer at CNN. Undervaluing just that one view is a huge mistake.
It's about having the humility. It's about not saying no. Even when you've made it. You're never too big. One is bigger than zero.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It baffles me how many people think that they're bigger than they actually are. |
| 0:10.4 | I hear people say like, well, how do I get into New York Times or |
| 0:13.8 | or how do I get that meeting with that CEO? And oftentimes I just say one is better than zero. |
| 0:18.8 | The steps it takes to actually get to the biggest places in the world. Before you get a meeting with, |
| 0:31.1 | you know, Zox or Cuban or Barry Diller or whatever you try to have a meeting with in the |
| 0:36.4 | business world, well, you've got to have a lot of little meetings to build up your canons. |
| 0:40.4 | People are always like, man, you've been on Conan at an LN and the today's show and CNN and Fox. |
| 0:48.5 | Like, how do I get that? And I'm like, well, I also did a thousand interviews. It feels like |
| 0:54.2 | on videos that got one or 19 or 137 news. |
| 0:58.5 | Like my PR people and all my managers and handlers are really pissed at me because they're like, |
| 1:03.7 | why are we spending 15 minutes doing these blogs that have six feeters, you know, every single day |
| 1:09.9 | and you're passing on the stuff that we're giving you to be on CNN or New York Times? |
| 1:14.0 | I still even today and as happy and something even more excited to be on a podcast or video blog, |
| 1:20.4 | that's only going to reach a hundred people because I'm always about depth versus width. |
| 1:23.7 | Do you want to go wine or do you want to go deep? I want to go deeper with my community. I want to |
| 1:27.8 | give that to people that were fans of me. And so even today, where I have more leverage than I did |
| 1:32.9 | three or four or five or six years ago to get bigger platforms, I still lived under the model |
| 1:37.6 | of one is better than zero. To me, doing these interviews is a process of the work that so many |
| 1:43.0 | people are impatient and not willing to do. Are you willing to take 10 minutes to get a 195 |
| 1:48.0 | views? I am. I don't know who you think you are. You've not gotten the exposure yet. When you have |
| 1:53.7 | not made your name just yet, when you're still making the climb, when you're not paying attention |
| 1:59.2 | because nobody else is, because 217 people watching the video, I'm grinding when you're sleeping. |
... |
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