I just met a 78-Year-old Gary Vee

5 min readOct 25, 2018

Sounds weird, isn’t it? Plus, I got a job offer.

Well, I just discovered an older version of Gary Vaynerchuk or at Least how Gary will be in 35 years.

I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop sipping my Americano in peace working on some different Job applications related to my senior project.

Suddenly an old guy walked to me and said “ Is this seat taken? I can’t find any other place and you are only one who sitting by himself”

I agreed and looked around me and I just noticed that the coffee shop is full of people looking at the TV screen. So I realized that there was a big game on that day. ( woohoo ! it was a great game, their Team won and qualified to the Cup Final).

So before the game started, He looked at me, offered me a cigarette and asked me straight away ‘’ what do you do for a living?’’ I said, Well, I’m a business developer & marketer. To be honest, I made a wrong move here. The dude was old, he can barely hear a word I say. So, I went to explain what a business developer does without waiting for him to ask.

(most of the time you have to explain what BD is)

He actually interrupted me saying, yes, what’s your best strategy for client retention? I was like what the F*ck? Immediately I realized that I screwed up. ( No need to go on what we said on client retention).

So I asked,’’ what about you what do you do for a living?’’ He smiled and he said that he runs his own business. I was surprised, so, Again, I made another wrong assumption and thought it was a family business. So I went on and asked him about what’s the business.is it a family business? He smiled again, It was an export/import company and he is the one running the business.

So I went on, and I asked ‘’ How long you have been doing this business” He said, ‘’ well, I started this one over 20 years ago. I started this one when I was 58 years old.’’

I REPEAT IN 1998 HE WAS 58 and STARTED A BUSINESS.

Bang ! are you telling me that you are a serial entrepreneur at the age of 78?
That’s not actually what drew my attention to the common points with Gary Vee.

He actually went on a Vaynerchuk rant in French (with actual F-bombs in French).

It’s was like putting one of Gary’s videos but in French. (which Luckily doesn’t exist) Imagine Gary saying ‘’ va te faire foutre’’ That would be too soft for Gary.

it was a rant full of advice, I hope I remembered them all.

Number # 1: Fail, Fail Big

He started saying: Did you fail before? I said Yes smiling, Then he went on and I quote

‘’ Fail as much you can kid, fail big, failure teaches you more than your Fcking achievements, you don’t need any pat on your shoulders for your achievements, you need pat on your shoulders from yourself when you fail and you being kicked out in the ground”

***Number # 2: If you don’t love what you are doing what the f*ck are you doing?***

‘’I resigned from my managerial position at the bank at the age of45, I had two teenage kids at the time and 1000 Dt (Tunisian Dinar) which equivalent to 350$. I had to stop, it wasn’t because of working from 8 to 6, It wasn’t because I wasn’t good at it. I was actually killing it. It just wasn’t for me. So I left, and I borrowed 800$ from a friend. I started my first company in 1986. I rented a garage and started selling agricultures supplies and things went on fast until I founded a company that imports these goods’’

***Number #3: Nobody gives a f*ck, put food on the table, work hard as you can.***

It’s a cruel world out there, nobody gives an F about your loses and If they pity you, you are surrounded by the wrong people. Only losers pity losers.

Life is a fight that you can’t win but you have to fight. Complaining never helps. Family first, put food on the table and enjoy the game.

Number #4: it’s never about the money, it’s about the feeling.

It’s never about the money, it’s about the feelings that come along, it’s about being the underdog and winning, it’s about the process from zero to everything.

I still wake up at 5 am in the morning and go to my office at 7 AM, and go home by whatever the fuck it takes and I’m 78 years old.

Number #5: Your education, your schooling doesn’t matter.

Your degree doesn’t matter it’s what you can do that does. Practicality does.

‘’I’m a high school dropout, Banks were just opening in Tunisia, they were recruiting people like crazy and teaching them stuff so I jumped in. I had zero knowledge about what a bank is or what a business is, Some of the people from my childhood tell me, you got lucky, I say to them and I quote ‘’Fils des putes’’, They think that luck has to do with anything I did “

Fuck it, I’m not writing a closure for this.

I will be watching the Final game Next week with him.

Cheers!

One last thing…

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Achraf Jemni
Business Developer & Marketing Consultant

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“Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” Vaibhav Shah