(Chorus)
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here tryng to win
149 to 146
Offense
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
Back in the day
There was a really famous basketball college team
Loyola Marymount
They were winning college basketball games
Like 147 to 132
They would just run and shoot
They just pushed it
But every time I think about that team
That’s how I think about my life
And how I think about myself as an entrepreneur
Offense
Because once you stop hearing judgment
And you're not actually worried
About what people have to say
You can just go fast
You start doing shit
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
You know how many of you
Have a real passion
For some shit that isn't cool right now
And so, you're just not doing it
Yet it's exactly the right thing
The amount of friends I had
Back in the day that loved video games
But got off of it because they didn't see a career for it
Who now regret at 40
'Cause they were fucking great at it
And they could be the Tony Hawk of Esport
Right now
They could've been that OG
But they didn't just see it
Because they worried about judgment
And they didn't realize the world evolved
Like when I was six
I wanted to wash people's cars
When it snowed and we had snow days here
I was shoveling snow not making snowmen
If you see what I'm doing in garage sales
Around here in Jersey
Like, I'm not doing that for show
I fucking love it
See, I got real, real, real lucky
The luckiest shit on earth
Is the thing you love
Is the thing that you're best at
2x (Chorus)
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here tryng to win
149 to 146
Offense
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
Back in the day
There was a really famous basketball college team
Loyola Marymount
They were winning college basketball games
Like 147 to 132
They would just run and shoot
They just pushed it
But every time I think about that team
That’s how I think about my life
And how I think about myself as an entrepreneur
Offense
Because once you stop hearing judgment
And you're not actually worried
About what people have to say
You can just go fast
You start doing shit
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
You know how many of you
Have a real passion
For some shit that isn't cool right now
And so, you're just not doing it
Yet it's exactly the right thing
The amount of friends I had
Back in the day that loved video games
But got off of it because they didn't see a career for it
Who now regret at 40
'Cause they were fucking great at it
And they could be the Tony Hawk of Esport
Right now
They could've been that OG
But they didn't just see it
Because they worried about judgment
And they didn't realize the world evolved
Like when I was six
I wanted to wash people's cars
When it snowed and we had snow days here
I was shoveling snow not making snowmen
If you see what I'm doing in garage sales
Around here in Jersey
Like, I'm not doing that for show
I fucking love it
See, I got real, real, real lucky
The luckiest shit on earth
Is the thing you love
Is the thing that you're best at
2x (Chorus)
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
People try to win like the '94 Knicks
79 to 76
I'm out here trying to win
149 to 146
Offense
Something I've been thinking about a lot
It’s just this notion of the clouds and the dirt
Meaning
I don't spend any time
On the things that don't matter
And what doesn't matter is basically everything in between
The overall vision and strategy
And the real knowledge of it
Clouds
The clouds are the high-end philosophy and beliefs
That are at the heart of everything I am personally
And everything I do professionally
Personally, it's really simple
Family first
Professionally, it’s not that much different
99% of what we deal with doesn't matter
If you religiously follow just a few core philosophies
That mean most to you
Everything else will naturally fall into place
Dirt
Being an actual practitioner
It's the hard work
Being a good spouse, parent, son, sibling, and friend
Professionally, it is knowing my craft
I'm super not interested in being fancy
I'm willing to work
I'm never gonna forget what I'm about
And I do unscalable, not the right use of my time shit
50% of my day every day for the rest of my life
(Chorus)
'Cause I love the fucking clouds and dirt
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds, dirt
People don't understand is, that the dirt is so important
Because unless you actually have the skills
Your reputation or what you did the day before
Or who your mama is
Isn't gonna impact your success
Your success is gonna be predicated by the dirt
And the dirt is a mixture of having the work ethic
To get your hands dirty
And then the experience predicated
From actually doing the work
If you're not working on your craft
If you got too fancy to keep doing your thing, you lose
That's why I love comedians that still go to small clubs
Seinfeld in his prime Just going to bullshit clubs in the middle of America
And working on his craft
It's dirt
It's never getting too fancy
To get away from what got you there in the first place
That's how people lose
(Chorus)
Clouds and dirt
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds, dirt
There’s too many people who are average at what they do
At what they do
And then confused by their average results
Everyone has their own definition of clouds and dirt
But if there's any advice that I can offer you
That will change the entire trajectory of your career
It's to start pushing at both edges
(Bucko)
Raise the bar of your business philosophy
Dig deeper into your craft
(Get after it)
You want to make sure
That you're equally an architect and a mason
You've got to be able to simultaneously
Think at high level
And get your hands dirty
You gotta get after it
(Chorus)
Clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds, dirt
A lot of times people don't have one or the other
They're too stuck in the minutiae to take a picture
They don't know how to navigate
Or they get it philosophically, but they don't have the skills
Or the appetite to actually be able to do it right
Know the details, know the philosophy
Then don't worry about all the minutiae in the middle
The politics, the process
All the crap that does not matter
And that's it, just spend all my time
In the clouds and the dirt
It’s just this notion of the clouds and the dirt
Meaning
I don't spend any time
On the things that don't matter
And what doesn't matter is basically everything in between
The overall vision and strategy
And the real knowledge of it
Clouds
The clouds are the high-end philosophy and beliefs
That are at the heart of everything I am personally
And everything I do professionally
Personally, it's really simple
Family first
Professionally, it’s not that much different
99% of what we deal with doesn't matter
If you religiously follow just a few core philosophies
That mean most to you
Everything else will naturally fall into place
Dirt
Being an actual practitioner
It's the hard work
Being a good spouse, parent, son, sibling, and friend
Professionally, it is knowing my craft
I'm super not interested in being fancy
I'm willing to work
I'm never gonna forget what I'm about
And I do unscalable, not the right use of my time shit
50% of my day every day for the rest of my life
(Chorus)
'Cause I love the fucking clouds and dirt
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds, dirt
People don't understand is, that the dirt is so important
Because unless you actually have the skills
Your reputation or what you did the day before
Or who your mama is
Isn't gonna impact your success
Your success is gonna be predicated by the dirt
And the dirt is a mixture of having the work ethic
To get your hands dirty
And then the experience predicated
From actually doing the work
If you're not working on your craft
If you got too fancy to keep doing your thing, you lose
That's why I love comedians that still go to small clubs
Seinfeld in his prime Just going to bullshit clubs in the middle of America
And working on his craft
It's dirt
It's never getting too fancy
To get away from what got you there in the first place
That's how people lose
(Chorus)
Clouds and dirt
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds, dirt
There’s too many people who are average at what they do
At what they do
And then confused by their average results
Everyone has their own definition of clouds and dirt
But if there's any advice that I can offer you
That will change the entire trajectory of your career
It's to start pushing at both edges
(Bucko)
Raise the bar of your business philosophy
Dig deeper into your craft
(Get after it)
You want to make sure
That you're equally an architect and a mason
You've got to be able to simultaneously
Think at high level
And get your hands dirty
You gotta get after it
(Chorus)
Clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds
I love the fucking clouds and dirt
Clouds and dirt
Clouds, dirt, clouds, dirt
A lot of times people don't have one or the other
They're too stuck in the minutiae to take a picture
They don't know how to navigate
Or they get it philosophically, but they don't have the skills
Or the appetite to actually be able to do it right
Know the details, know the philosophy
Then don't worry about all the minutiae in the middle
The politics, the process
All the crap that does not matter
And that's it, just spend all my time
In the clouds and the dirt
As the pressure grew
How do you
As an international speaker
With all of your attention
How do you cope with all of the pressure?
In terms of hate and everything that goes on
Um, quite easily
From a very basic thing
I know what my intent is
And I'm very grounded in it
And I deploy enormous amounts of empathy
To my haters
When somebody leaves a comment
That I'm a charlatan
Or a snake oil salesman
Or my daddy gave me the money to build the liquor store
And I shouldn't be listened to
I understand why they say that
I know it's not true
It feeds me
In a very good way
And so, for me, to be very honest with you
It's been very easy
Because when your intent is pure
I think about succeeding in one very simple story
There are two ways, my friends
To build the biggest building in town
Step number one
(Chorus)
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
Step number one
Step number one
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
Step number two
Build a decent-sized building
And then spend all your time trying to tear
Everybody else's building around you down
So, you end up being
The biggest building in town
My friend
95% of people try to do number two
But when you know you can build
The fucking biggest building in town
You do that
You do that
And so, because I know what my intent is
I just don't value anybody's opinion
About me
Including my parents and wife and children
More than I value my opinion about myself
2x (Chorus)
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
Step number one
Step number one
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
How do you
As an international speaker
With all of your attention
How do you cope with all of the pressure?
In terms of hate and everything that goes on
Um, quite easily
From a very basic thing
I know what my intent is
And I'm very grounded in it
And I deploy enormous amounts of empathy
To my haters
When somebody leaves a comment
That I'm a charlatan
Or a snake oil salesman
Or my daddy gave me the money to build the liquor store
And I shouldn't be listened to
I understand why they say that
I know it's not true
It feeds me
In a very good way
And so, for me, to be very honest with you
It's been very easy
Because when your intent is pure
I think about succeeding in one very simple story
There are two ways, my friends
To build the biggest building in town
Step number one
(Chorus)
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
Step number one
Step number one
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
Step number two
Build a decent-sized building
And then spend all your time trying to tear
Everybody else's building around you down
So, you end up being
The biggest building in town
My friend
95% of people try to do number two
But when you know you can build
The fucking biggest building in town
You do that
You do that
And so, because I know what my intent is
I just don't value anybody's opinion
About me
Including my parents and wife and children
More than I value my opinion about myself
2x (Chorus)
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
Step number one
Step number one
Just build the biggest building in town
Build the biggest building in town
Gratitude
On that 400-trillion-to-one thing
I'm grateful
Straight up, like I don't know what to say
Like, you might've not been born
Right?
Like, your dad could've been late
To the apartment that day
On some real shit
Like I don't think people would contextualize perspective like
What?
Like you're alive
Like you're alive
You could have been a tree
You could've been like, right
This is cool
Like, life is good
(Chorus)
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
One of the biggest things for me
Is being the bigger person
I hate conflict
Ironically, like
I'm a tough guy
When I have the mic and nobody else can talk
But in real life
I like, like happiness
And vibes and like
I've eaten shit my whole life
Kid stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from me
In the liquor store
Like, I found a way for him not to go to jail
For a long time, like, you know
Like, just being the bigger person
Has been a core principle of mine
Not valuing money over family and, like, happiness
Has been huge, fuck money
Like really
Fuck money
You cannot care about money more when you don't care
About what people think about your money
You know?
(Chorus)
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
Patience
Holy shit, I'm gonna live four more full lives
And no matter how crazy what I think about right now is
And, like, what I wanna accomplish on or off the field
I got four fucking lives to do it
You guys know Grey Goose?
The guy who invented that is an entrepreneur
Invented it at 78
78 years old
You know
That's life
Like, you can do everything wrong
Have every dream you've ever had fucked up
Blame it on other people
The girl fucked it up
That injury fucked it up
Coach fucked it up
Blame everybody, have everything go wrong
Be 57 years old
And still have fucking 40 years to make it right
It's crazy, honestly
Like, if there was some crazy new drug
That I could, like, inject in you
That gave you perspective of time
That's the drug I would give you
Straight up
2x (Chorus)
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
It makes you optimistic
People sitting here dwelling already
Dwelling already
“Fuck, I shouldn't have come to Rutgers”
“Fucking knew it”
Of course, there's people thinking that
Like, that's just real life
Dwelling already
Haven't even fucking started
Man, that's what I wanna change
(Akira The Don)
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
On that 400-trillion-to-one thing
I'm grateful
Straight up, like I don't know what to say
Like, you might've not been born
Right?
Like, your dad could've been late
To the apartment that day
On some real shit
Like I don't think people would contextualize perspective like
What?
Like you're alive
Like you're alive
You could have been a tree
You could've been like, right
This is cool
Like, life is good
(Chorus)
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
One of the biggest things for me
Is being the bigger person
I hate conflict
Ironically, like
I'm a tough guy
When I have the mic and nobody else can talk
But in real life
I like, like happiness
And vibes and like
I've eaten shit my whole life
Kid stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from me
In the liquor store
Like, I found a way for him not to go to jail
For a long time, like, you know
Like, just being the bigger person
Has been a core principle of mine
Not valuing money over family and, like, happiness
Has been huge, fuck money
Like really
Fuck money
You cannot care about money more when you don't care
About what people think about your money
You know?
(Chorus)
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
Patience
Holy shit, I'm gonna live four more full lives
And no matter how crazy what I think about right now is
And, like, what I wanna accomplish on or off the field
I got four fucking lives to do it
You guys know Grey Goose?
The guy who invented that is an entrepreneur
Invented it at 78
78 years old
You know
That's life
Like, you can do everything wrong
Have every dream you've ever had fucked up
Blame it on other people
The girl fucked it up
That injury fucked it up
Coach fucked it up
Blame everybody, have everything go wrong
Be 57 years old
And still have fucking 40 years to make it right
It's crazy, honestly
Like, if there was some crazy new drug
That I could, like, inject in you
That gave you perspective of time
That's the drug I would give you
Straight up
2x (Chorus)
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Life is good
(This is cool!)
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
It makes you optimistic
People sitting here dwelling already
Dwelling already
“Fuck, I shouldn't have come to Rutgers”
“Fucking knew it”
Of course, there's people thinking that
Like, that's just real life
Dwelling already
Haven't even fucking started
Man, that's what I wanna change
(Akira The Don)
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
It's cool to have one
Life is good
Life is good
Like, it's cool to have one
That's number one
Today's guest is one of the world's leading marketing experts and living proof that the American dream is alive and well
If you're willing to work your face off
Life starts
In being born in Belarus
In the former Soviet Union
I came to the US
When I was three years old
We were very, very, very poor
I lived in a studio apartment with eight family members
And my dad and my mom
As you can imagine are very much my heroes
My dad worked every hour of his life
Being a stock boy in a liquor store
I was a very entrepreneurial kid
I was day trading attention from a young age
I had six lemonade stands
When I was seven years old
And I would spend all my time
Trying to figure out what tree and what pole
To put the signs on
Because I was watching people drive
And trying to figure out what signs
Yes, I was a very sick child
When I was 12 and 13
I was selling baseball cards which were very popular
In the United States at the time
And I was making one to two thousand dollars a weekend
Selling them
In the malls
Which was great and I was rich for a young kid
And it was fantastic
But then my career changed
My dad dragged me into the liquor store
And I hated it at first
But luckily, I realized that people collected wine
I was into collecting sports memorabilia
That was my passion, that was the connection
And I decided
That I was gonna jump into my family business
Open up 4,000 liquor stores across America
Sell the franchise one day
And buy the New York Jets
(Chorus)
'Cause that is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
That is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
In 1994 I was in my dorm room in college
My friend came over to me
He brought me into a room
It was the first time I heard, “coo-coo-ch”
Which was the Internet
I was very excited about it
I didn't know what it was
I said something stupid like “Is this the information superhighway?”
I looked at it
This was 1994
I literally stood there
And watched people on the Internet for five hours
It was that crazy
It was just that insane
It was so new
And when I finally had my turn
To go on there
When I finally had my turn to go on there
Within 20 minutes
I landed on a message board
Where people were trading and buying cards
Baseball cards
And I realized, “My God, I can do business on this thing”
2x (Chorus)
'Cause that is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
That is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
You two stand up
You two stand up
Let's clap it up for these guys
If you're willing to work your face off
Life starts
In being born in Belarus
In the former Soviet Union
I came to the US
When I was three years old
We were very, very, very poor
I lived in a studio apartment with eight family members
And my dad and my mom
As you can imagine are very much my heroes
My dad worked every hour of his life
Being a stock boy in a liquor store
I was a very entrepreneurial kid
I was day trading attention from a young age
I had six lemonade stands
When I was seven years old
And I would spend all my time
Trying to figure out what tree and what pole
To put the signs on
Because I was watching people drive
And trying to figure out what signs
Yes, I was a very sick child
When I was 12 and 13
I was selling baseball cards which were very popular
In the United States at the time
And I was making one to two thousand dollars a weekend
Selling them
In the malls
Which was great and I was rich for a young kid
And it was fantastic
But then my career changed
My dad dragged me into the liquor store
And I hated it at first
But luckily, I realized that people collected wine
I was into collecting sports memorabilia
That was my passion, that was the connection
And I decided
That I was gonna jump into my family business
Open up 4,000 liquor stores across America
Sell the franchise one day
And buy the New York Jets
(Chorus)
'Cause that is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
That is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
In 1994 I was in my dorm room in college
My friend came over to me
He brought me into a room
It was the first time I heard, “coo-coo-ch”
Which was the Internet
I was very excited about it
I didn't know what it was
I said something stupid like “Is this the information superhighway?”
I looked at it
This was 1994
I literally stood there
And watched people on the Internet for five hours
It was that crazy
It was just that insane
It was so new
And when I finally had my turn
To go on there
When I finally had my turn to go on there
Within 20 minutes
I landed on a message board
Where people were trading and buying cards
Baseball cards
And I realized, “My God, I can do business on this thing”
2x (Chorus)
'Cause that is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
That is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
You two stand up
You two stand up
Let's clap it up for these guys