If you only listen to one perspective, you may think getting a job at your family’s business means: entrepreneurship. Instead of what it actually means. Nepotism. When you’ve got Daddy’s money, you don’t star quality, you get to ride your own mediocrity all the way to the top.
Gary Vee is a polarizing figure, especially for those of us who didn’t start life on third base. The guy talks a big game about hustle, grit, and bootstrapping your way to success. But let’s not forget: he had a head start that many of us could only dream of. He wasn’t just born into a full family; he was born into a family business. That’s a massive advantage that’s easy to overlook when you’re caught up in his high-energy motivational speeches.
For those of us who didn’t have a family to bankroll us, or who grew up fatherless, the playing field isn’t just uneven—it’s like playing a completely different game.
We didn’t have shoulders to stand on or oak-paneled doors to private boardrooms held open for us.
We had to find out where the doors even were, create our own map to get there, and then figure out how to build our own keys to unlock them. Along the way, we had to create our own light for the path ahead.
So when Gary Vee gets applauded for his “self-made” success, it can feel like a slap in the face to those of us who truly started from scratch. And even worse for those who started below scratch, with systemic prejudice against them.
It’s not that he hasn’t worked hard or that he doesn’t deserve success. It’s that he started ahead of the game, and it’s important to recognize that his success was leveraged on a foundation that many of us didn’t have the luxury of having.
The Gary Vee gospel is out of touch.
A Slap in the Face to the Self-Made
Here’s an extract from one of the thousands of articles on Vee. Just another in the slew of support for these nepo-babies, whom disguise themselves as “self-made entrepreneurs.”
Self-made millionaire Gary Vaynerchuk: This is the real secret to success
So, to para-phrase: he got a job at a million-dollar company his Daddy owned and leveraged it with direct access to the bank account C.O: Daddy-CEO? After he got his own show bankrolled, he got major publicity on another rich white dude’s show. Was Conan a friend of a family or just a friend of a friend?
How did we used to believe that starting in a multi-million dollar family company is at all self-made?
The gigantic GaryVee brand, is, at its core, is, not about entrepreneurship, but about nepotism.
Welcome to The Age of Bankrolled Banality.
When you’re bankrolled by Daddy’s Money, you’re not required to have star quality, exceptional talent, striking looks, intellectual prowess, ingenious creativity – or even above-average competence.
Gary Vee is the poster boy for “You can be anybody and be successful just like me!” rhetoric.
Sure! If you got Daddy’s money you totally can! For the rest of us, a degree of star quality is required.
Did Vee Kill Star Quality on Social?
It’s not the nepotism that bothers me as much as how the Veester spread all over social media. I’ve scrolled through swamps of vee-wannabes. It’s painful, inane, and boring. It’s crippling to a creative heart because it’s all copy-and-past fast churn, generic content. There’s not an original idea on the feed. It’s like broken-telephone bro-speak. And these dudes amasse huge followings by following each other.
Even Gary Vee’s Top Social Media Post Isn’t Original: It’s Copy-Paste from Another Dude
We audited Gary’s top post on Instagram from 1st September 2022 to 20th September 2023. Here’s the visual audit.
His top post? A direct rip-off from Seth, Dude with a Sign.
In fact 2 of his top 10 posts are the exact same post.
No Daddy Big Bucks?
So what do you do if you don’t have Daddy Big Bucks? Listen to nepotism kids who have an entirely different rule book to you? No stop that. We have a list of 14 overused perspectives in Marketing for you to avoid here. As a simplification, if he’s white, rich, and male – he’s probably playing by different rules to you.
Start by listening to MULTIPLE perspectives.
Rachael Kay Albers shares some great insights on her podcast interview with Lisa Robbin Young here.
And if you really want to copy the “gurus” at least shortcut your struggle and don’t buy another event ticket or course from them.
Instead, audit their account with Creatrix and generate an emulation plan based on which of their posts actually perform best. Post that actually work for them, not what they say works best.
You’ll probably find that they’re just copying someone else.
It’s no wonder content on social media is so boring!
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