at BuzzFeed I was making a lot of money like upwards of $600,000 right cuz you were in sales I was in sales and I was one of the top players so makes sense I was making a ton of money and I was like well you know am I ever going to be able to make that much money doing your Rich BFF stuff like is that even a reality for me do you have the logical combo of like I need to scratch this itch and even if Rich you know BFF fails I'll be able to go
get another job because of who I am at some point in Gary you're out here stealing my thunder oh I'm sorry I'm sorry yeah no attention is is the number one asset fer Nation how are you this is exciting as all of you know I've really converted my podcast into podcast with friends where we usually have three guests but I kind of like to break my own rules and even though I said I wasn't going to do a lot of these I thought it'd be fun to do a one-on-one on this because this book has
caught a lot of people's attention I think the subject of financial literacy really really really matters um and I think Vivian's done a really good job in capturing the essence of what I think is going on in the modern landscape of of information and personal brand and things of that nature and so it's really nice to have you here thank you so much for having me of course why don't you tell everybody let's do a little 34 minutes where I'll give you the mic where you can tell everybody who you are and a little bit
about your story yeah absolutely um hi everybody I'm Vivian 2 AKA your Rich BFF and your favorite Wall Street girly uh I actually started my career trading equities uh stocks at JP Morgan uh did that for about 2 and a half years ended up leaving the industry I wanted to wear ripped jeans to work and make more money and have more flexibility so what does a young person do you go into media you go into Tech uh went to BuzzFeed and worked on the digital media strategy sales team for a minute there covering entertainment and
travel clients uh and while I was there all of my new friends and colleagues were like okay you came from Wall Street are our company stock options worth anything which health insurance plan did you pick can you help me rebalance my 401k and I got so many of those same questions I was like you guys you're annoying me during the day let me put put this on the internet you can watch the videos so got it so yeah you grow up did you think you were going to go to Wall Street as a kid um
you know I my parents are Chinese immigrants so I kind of had the doctor lawyer engineer options and then financier became the bonus fourth option I went to us Chicago so a lot of people do end up on Wall Street I just wanted a job where I wasn't going to have to ask them for money ever again I was going to be able to do what I wanted to do and the idea of having a penthouse apartment in New York City certainly didn't hurt got it so it was it right so in that immigrant structure
that a lot of us know then two which I love hearing from you you wanted to be off the payroll so they had no say yeah CU you know which I love because I think it's the biggest issue that yes the hypocrisy of kids being mad at their parents when they're on the payroll blows my mind you can't if they pay they have say and it's why I told my parents they could not contribute to my wedding love because I was like you can't tell me which band to pick you can't tell me what appetizers
it's a very real thing it's the best decision I made too when I was a kid and way too many people are such [ __ ] Hypocrites they literally complain about their parents are involved and they medal and the only reason your parents have any leverage besides you love them and you want to like is the payroll is the payroll get off the [ __ ] payroll so got it you went to this grade school you were obviously a good student you knew you wanted to be off the payroll and you wanted to live have
Independence and you're like cool Finance also if I Crush it can get real let me consider that you get into a couple years and you just realized there was other things you wanted to scratch not so much that but you know I think a lot of us joined did you like it I did at the beginning I had a really great mentor a really great manager you know as Wall Street shakeups do happen you know the head of my desk ended up getting let go brought in a completely new guy fired half the team so
suddenly the team looks very different then I end up getting assigned to a new manager who it didn't click it didn't click but also he made some real nasty comments they like you're too girly to be here and didn't like how my nails click clacked on the keyboard didn't like oh so like really went old school that way very old school and like and you're like [ __ ] this [ __ ] yeah like I shouldn't have to put up with that like I know how smart I am I know what I can bring to
the table and like that's the bare minimum right like you shouldn't say [ __ ] like that to me work right so [ __ ] you I have options you decided the jeans let me see what the BuzzFeed selling this that when you get there a bunch of kids and because you were in an environment that did have financial literacy now you got a real look at the broader world and you're like [ __ ] no one knows [ __ ] nobody knows anything right and and obviously tongue and cheek this is annoying I'm getting
asked a lot let me make some videos for y'all you also because you're at BuzzFeed and because you're a human in society at this point you knew that and maybe some of this content will click and it may open up other opportunities and doors not even I really made this as like a hey this is going to be like a fun little passion project my friends are going to watch but you are smart enough to know yeah I would I that makes sense I think a lot of people are making content of like fantasy sports
and like I that I can buy but I can't buy back to your point of like [ __ ] you I have options don't make fun of my clicking that you had to know and some of these May click and it may lead for things for me to think about I think it had to be in the back of your head you delusional yes a tiny piece of my mind was like maybe content goes amazingly viral and this can become something but I certainly wasn't there's a point Bing on this that I respect but I
think it's the biggest point I want to make to the audience watching live on Twitch by the way podcast if you want to watch these things live twitch.tv garyvee but like I what the point I'm making is I I believe it is let me use an interesting term I believe that it is grossly negligent as a human in society today to not post videos around your singular either knowledge base yeah or passion base yeah I think it makes borderline no sense I'm aware of insecurity and worried about what people look like worried about negative comments
mental health like if you get ne most people don't have enough self-esteem to deal with the no views or I I know why people don't do it yeah but I believe it's insane there's just so much correct and this Windows real and like the fact that like I I also think that people like things people like Star Trek people like the Avengers people like wine people like bourbon people like cooking people like the other thing there are influencers that are truly influencing and their brand is thems which I think is so incredibly challenging these are
people like the Alex Earls the tines of the world but for all the rest of us I don't have to put every single personal detail about myself out there to your point knowledge based or passion Bas it's such an easy way to get into this world that so many people what is it the the stat is like students or children like 15 to 18 right now like 50% of them want to be YouTubers more more this is how you get in as a matter of fact I think the people that are living their lives like
reality TV will continue to decline because that is the hardest game correct once you give the world your life you don't have one and it gets picked apart I am wildly out there for the last 2007 17 years for the last 17 years I have posted on the internet every day yeah I am out there I have plenty of followers I don't post anything about my personal life yeah so I think a lot of people think you have to go there yeah I've never posted my children in my life people don't realize you're in full
control yeah anyway the reason I wanted to rant on that is I just love that you had a knowledge base yep you did some stuff and here you are with like an iconic book like you have options now whether you want to like I just like optionality yeah agreed it's Freedom it's Choice the same reason why you want to have money the same reason why you want to have how fast did the first V when was the first so you started posting where yes Tik Tok Instagram YouTube Tik Tok first video January 1st 2021 first
seven hours I think the video got seven views then that night I'm watching a movie with my now fiance and my phone starts to get like hot you know like when your phone starts to overheat my phone's always hot right exactly um phone starts buzzing off the hook like I'm like what's going on I'm like that's weird I have 7,000 followers that's way more followers than I have on my personal Instagram and like I'm like I don't even know if I know that many people so Real Talk cuz which is that's insane real talk you're
one of those people I talked about six seven years ago for Tik Tok that literally actually first video Hit first video went viral and by the way for everyone who's watching and listening that game is not as real now no it's not it's always supply and demand of attention like I've talked about this is why oh by the way let's do a plug day trading attention coming out this summer this is the one but this is the game you were back to your background you were day trading attention correct so literally the first one hit
first one 3 million views 100,000 followers by the end of the week were you like what the [ __ ] yeah but you knew that was a in play but you didn't think it would be the first one I really don't know how Inplay I thought it was going to be I thought if anything like I would do it for a couple months and slowly build an audience like a normal person but then so what happens like tell me what happens the morning you wake up on Tuesday or whatever the [ __ ] it was
I'm just like oh shoot so I call such a real life example like a reaction I call my girlfriend who was the biggest influencer I knew at the time and I say that in quotes she is a you know 10,000 person following food blog on Instagram she's a micro influencer by way which is huge for the normal world we live in so you called her and said what do I do I'm like I I'm like girly like what do I do now and she's like you have to keep making content I'm like about what and
she's like I don't know you got to figure it out like read the comments what do people want you to talk about like all that use it as a renewable resource every video begets more questions begets more content and so I call that pcsing at bayner media post creative strategy yes read all the comments decide what to make next y exactly and so I start making videos about all of these topics and I start to actually develop a Content strategy in that like there are certain pieces of content that hit and then there are certain
pieces of content that didn't and the stuff that didn't I let it go and the stuff that did I made more of it right I made more of it that's right and then are are you in a place where you one thing I would say when I hear that CU intuitively you did everything right and even now today this is like advice for today take it or leave it always give yourself a little room to do a wild yeah you have to yeah you have to because that's where people are getting hurt once they hit
a certain level because part of your content needs to serve your existing audience and then the other part needs to find you a new audience correct and so I was always doing some weird [ __ ] and the rest of it I was like oh hack videos so what happens next so you do that so you start building start building you're working at BuzzFeed I'm working at BuzzFeed fulltime and I work there for a year and three months full-time while sort of building up your Rich BFF I'm doing some are they aware that something's Brewing
they're like do you want to team up or do some stuff here I actually cleared it with the legal team and compliance team cuz I I was an employee there a professional yeah by the way notice how like a young professional knew what to do that's what the JP Morgan stuff does for you all these kids are like literally some kid that we found out had three jobs at Vayner media cuz that you know that's what happened during Co when I like spoke to him he's like what I'm like what do you mean what you
work here like and I wasn't even mad about that as a matter of fact I almost like wanted to like start a company with him because I was very impressed I'm like there's liability yeah I'm like you're doing the same work you're working on a client we signed contracts saying you work on this you can't work for seie Johnson yeah yeah na yeah but I have the I'm not trying to get sued mentality yes and I think when it first popped off they were like oh donside witch oh she's Rich be FF I follow her
let's go um and so I actually go back and I'm like oh is this okay they're looking at me like I am small potato so they're like no worries go for it girlfriend I'm like okay cool and then it start and a little more credit for buzzfeed's DNA cuz I've known them a long time yes comma they also are a culture of that stuff and in the back of their mind are like well if it gets big maybe we'll have a different conversation in six months exactly if we're being fair yeah so I started taking
a couple deals um I'm building it a year and three months in I'm like I [ __ ] hate this I hate working at BuzzFeed I hate doing your BFF I hate I hate everything oh you're about to move and so then I had a conversation with my fiance and he's like do you think that you don't hate everything you just hate the fact that you're working 5 days a week at a normal job spending all of Saturday ID eting content and spending all the Sunday fil filming it you haven't taken a break in a
year now like maybe you want to go on vacation good for him and we had a pretty candid conversation and I was like listen like at BuzzFeed I was making a lot of money like upwards of $600,000 right cuz you were in sales I was in sales and I was one of the top players so I was making a ton of money and I was like you know am I ever going to be able to make that much money doing your Rich BFF stuff like is that even a reality for me do you have the
logical combo of like I need to scratch this itch and even if Rich you know BFF fails I'll be able to go get another job because of who I am at some point in Gary you're out here stealing my thunder oh I'm sorry I'm sorry yeah no so basically we had this conversation and my thought was like listen like I've done a good job my boss loves me the company loves me they would hire me again and so would oh by the way and so would you know all of these other competitors all these platforms
I get 15 minutes of fame I get this flash in the pan moment of do I take this or not and I'm sorry to interrupt I know everybody gets mad when I do but I can't help it because I want people to get inspired I believe this Flash in a pan in 15 minutes of fame you can extend it not only that yes and I love you for jumping in I don't think it's what we all grew up with I'm going to say it again I think it's practical now not an anomaly I think you're
the preview not the Enigma M this has been my biggest thesis for 15 years and now it's really playing out yeah to me your story is the norm I believe the long tale of influence personal brand proper I believe every human is about to be the small business yes just like there's 8 trillion small businesses not everyone becomes [ __ ] Verizon and and BMW but there's a drillion small businesses I believe the small business ification of personal brand the micro influence aners it's real as [ __ ] and personal branding is so so this
is why when someone who's so inspiring in doing it says I've Got The Flash in a pan I got this 15 minutes I like to jump in because I need these people listening especially the million that will listen to this podcast over the next 12 months to understand this is not a miracle this is not far-fetched this is the internet is at a scale now yeah distribution of information is in a place with social algorithms are you could have never done what you did if Tik Tok wasn't around I was there when Facebook and Twitter
and YouTube was the case you had to build a list and then people would see it did take four years yeah now one post because of the way yeah because of that explore page go ahead so so um I end up quitting my job I Bank $100,000 in cash and I'm like that's my that's my parachute money yep um didn't need it I end up crushing it and you know last year I think the reported number what we actually collected was probably close to like 4 million in terms of revenue for the company um what
are the revenue streams so obviously we got just the platform's paying us little to nothing right brand Partnerships is a huge chunk book advance I got a pretty healthy Advance makes sense podcast ads great sense um I do quite a bit of speaking love and then right now in the works we're working on some TV stuff good for you yeah on the speaking part without just cuz I'm always business developing you should definitely talk to Vayner speakers you may be thrilled with who you're talking to but we're really crushing I love that uh what's the
book about and why should everybody who's listening buy it because I genuinely obviously we have some mutual friends um but I can't comprehend anyone listening to the last 20 minutes not realizing that you are wildly sharp as [ __ ] and super capable so I'm going to assume cuz I continue to it's scary to me what I put in day trading attention for like 20 bucks like literally companies pay me $500,000 for an hour of what I put in this book for 20 bucks I continue to believe now that books are like the weirdest best
deal in the world yes because people like ourselves don't want to write a shitty book cuz it's Pride yes and then thus rendering the content very valuable yeah and the cost is nothing correct so my intuition is that every person that listens to this podcast ever should buy it based on you so I guess that's how I buy books even though I don't buy books that's how I would buy books because I don't read them but that's how I would process if I was a reader above and beyond that you're epic what one or three
things are going on in the book that you think for the general public which as you know one of the reasons you blew up is people don't know [ __ ] about finances in America and the world what are the one to three things in there that you think stand out of why it's hitting well I think why it's hitting is you talk about you know you charging these businesses you know know all of those people on the internet who are charging thousands of dollars for personal finance courses or investing courses again this is a
New York Times bestselling book that is now sold 70,000 copies you can get this for free at your library and get it for like 20 bucks on Amazon this book is the blueprint 101 to personal finance not as a matter of fact uh you can also get it right now on Twitch there's 140 people here the first 25 people that email Dustin sorry Dustin I'm making you work what is it Dustin Dustin Dole yeah Dustin Dole Vayner media.com the first 25 he's going to delete 20 because he's busy so I just want to be fair
with the couple hundred people that are watching live right now he's going to delete 26 on he may archive it put in a folder to talk to you in the future when he's bored but the first 25 people that email him right now their address I'm going to send a copy to of this this book sick Easter eggs on the this is you know this is getting everyone listening to podcast to start realizing they need to tune in every day and hang out with me on twitch.tv okay um go ahead yes but basically the book
is a personal finance 101 if you know nothing about managing your money if you know nothing about being smart with your finances you can read this book read it from page one to the very last page walk away feeling confident capable and ready to take on your financial Journey it's broken into two halves first half is I work hard for my money so we cover a big explanation of the current state of macro and microeconomic Affairs in languages that you'll understand and then I break down how to ask for more money at work and why
you should be asking how to budget better without giving up everything that you love and then we move on to the really exciting part of the book which is my money works hard for me and this is the how do I save better how do I save more effectively again without giving up everything I love how do I make sure that I have money for future me and then I love the title that I chose for chapter 5 which is the investing chapter I wasn't born rich but my kids will be because investing is truly
going to unlock the ability for every single person to be a two income household yep and it lets you truly maximize everything that you already have coming in the door without working harder without spending too much more time and I walk through every single asset class how to pick a brokerage how to pick an account how to pick Investments how to be mindful of all of what you're doing and I even give you a cheat if you don't want to do any of that [ __ ] and you want to take 45 minutes and take
a quick quiz I break down how to do it for you good for you and then last chapter Financial domination all the stuff that doesn't fit neatly into a box we talk about taxes we talk about credit scores we talk about paying down debt and a really important thing that I think a lot of books miss out on is how does emotion play into money let's actually talk about that because that's the part that I'm most interested in people buy [ __ ] to fill gaps yeah do you do you touch on that a little
bit like why they buy a designer bag when they can't afford it but they need it to Peacock they get the quick endorphin hit and then they need it to like signal to the world like no I'm not a loser I have a Chanel bag like do you go there a little bit Yeah I do and I'm not you know like I it's a book in itself but I'm curious on how much if any you touch on it because everyone's going to say I can't save I can't invest I'm like you sure can like don't
buy the new iPhone every time it comes out yeah um there is actually a phenomenon um coined by Este louder uh the Lim lipstick index in that during times of financial downturn you actually see the purchases and the revenue for companies that sell little treats right during the Great Depression exploded exactly little hits little treat little treat not private planes but just makeup that was the luxury and when you can't afford the flat screen TV much less the car much less the home a little hit will give you the dopamine that you need aare but
it prevents you from getting to these bigger goals when you are really in debt and you are buying a $19 cocktail yeah at happy hour there's that you've got to figure that [ __ ] out that constant Uber seamless Starbucks it [ __ ] adds up and our society currently has decided that that's a necessity not a luxury yep but I also address the flip side of that conversation I heard you I heard you which I love the little stuff matters it does add up it's death by a th paper cuts if you get a
coffee every single day and you get the Uber every day whatever but there's also a school of thought that says make sure when you take the big swings you are negotiating your ass off off because if you can get $50,000 off of the purchase price of your home it's $50,000 that's 50 Grand you know how much if you can get $7,000 more in your salary it's $3500 more well actually my tax racket much more than that for the normal person it's so much easier to make more money or save big bucks when you're buying the
big ticket items versus trying to nickel and dime yourself because I do think you're allowed to have a little treat but your point if you have too many little treats too many days a week it really can hold you back everybody Dustin will email confirmation to the people that won I don't want to speak for him I don't know if he can confirm to everyone who lost so just assume you will get an email within 24 hours you got a lot to do if there's hundreds there I don't want to like you you'll decide yeah
if you didn't get a reply you didn't win I check emails very well so um we got a couple minutes left give me uh what is it February 7 6 7th give me a February 7th 2024 hot take on anything Financial that's got your attention oo and I I'm not looking for you to predict something because that I think is silly yeah I'm talking more like anything that's on your mind in the game of like last year's uh there's a presidential election and Biden may not win and if Trump wins this tax thing will change
and so keep your if you've been thinking about something this year that or have you paid attention to this or here's the reason that or is there that you as a thinker of finances are like hot on or that's kind of clever out there right now yeah you guys want a time travel always you can still contribute to that Roth IRA and to your retirement accounts for last year before the tax date love and that way you still can have it basically essentially count for last year right and a lot of people think that when
1231 hits EXC EXC me you can contribute to your IRA so that you can actually get a taxable benefit from for last year's taxes versus this year having be 2024 um so you can time travel and I think that's really good yeah because for a lot of people they don't know how they're going to splurge especially if they're working tight they don't know what the holidays are going to look like but now on February 7th you got a little bit of a feel like you're into the year a little bit you know of your job
stability or you you never know but like of course you know things like that go ahead can I make a prediction that I can guarantee you comes true so you have a prediction that you're very hot on no 100 I certain great well good news when it happens we'll clip this and if it doesn't happen we'll definitely CLI this this right I will say you you're going to be like oh well that's like a soft prediction but like it's true that's okay so there's a current Trend going on called Loud budgeting and I think that
it is here to stay and it'll actually become a very pervasive thing in our communities so for people who aren't chronically online loud budgeting is is essentially where uh it is now socially acceptable for you to talk about your financial goals with your friends and use them as an excuse to get out of social obligations out of things that are going to cost money um so suddenly transparency yes and vulnerability yes will lead to less discomfort in the long term maybe a little bit on The Upfront correct which will allow you to not have to
keep up with the Joneses and have the stigma which will allow you to budget better exactly and I do think that with the Next Generation we're just more honest 100% like in some ways we're not embarrassed in some ways we're remarkably more honest which is why I love j z and Jen Alpha in other ways our we're CLE we're more clever we're very we I'm I feel like I'm so proud of I'm an old [ __ ] but dude compared to these kids but I love these kids but they're a little more clever they're all
so good at PR yes that they're outflanking some of their Boomer parents and gen xers but the reality is I see them their their the hypocrisy is extraordinary but you're right there's a lot of things they're more vulnerable and transparent about but they're also the the lack of accountability and entitlement is a blind spot and then we're talking General yes um but I agree with you they're incredibly they're creating some incredible uh Frameworks that are going to work for them and I'm excited about that I root for them heavy especially gen Alpha cuz I love
their cynicism towards gen Z these 10y olds are gangsters they they're also like I every generation scares me just a little bit more but like in a good way I agree um I'm proud of you uh obviously the book's available everywhere yep Rich AF Rich AF you can find it wherever books are sold please buy a copy if you want a copy congratulations and and more importantly real talk there this just hit me as you were just talking I actually think this is the book you buy for someone too yes there's certain books that I've
always thought were like good to buy buy two copies of um this is [ __ ] important and what I and I think Vivian's important and I'll tell you why Jim Kramer is good for some people your financial adviser that's your grandpa and your dad's financial advisor Barry who's 83 years old good for some people I do think representation different looks like I came along and had D's and Fs and didn't go to University of Chicago or pen or Harvard and I mattered for a lot of entrepreneurs at a time where this thing that's now
accepted was really weird I used to get yelled at for not wearing a suit yeah and made fun of and and booed and hissed for cursing I think different people come along and I think when you see yourself in someone you know I I there's been many women who over the last 30 40 years from Susie Orman on TV to like many many women that talk about Finance but every individual person's their own little thing and I I'm excited our own small business right and yeah and and to your point what excites me is I
know that you're going to be cool and interesting to a bunch of men and women yeah that were always intimidated or not interested or like [ __ ] finances and finances like Health are just not good things to not care about right like real talk today you has to take care of future you otherwise by the time things are so dark and today you like a lot of people who do buy a Chanel bag or a uber every day or a coffee every day do know they're [ __ ] up to your point have permission
to have nice Treats but within moderation find the middle yeah thanks for being on thank you so much for having me cheers
