August

I named this article August and I’ll tell you why. August simply fascinates me. You’ve seen the video but I want to dig deeper into the details. I’ve flipped the script and this is the first time in my career that I’ll actually be taking a break. I’ll be out of office from August 5th to September 5th with no daily vlog.

Because the truth is, I think life changes along the way and you have to adjust to your realities. So in my twenties, when I had no family, August felt like the perfect month to take advantage of the time when people were sleeping. Everyone is on vacation in August which means if I doubled down and tripled down on my hustle I would be ahead of the competition who were usually taking a break.

For me, as my kids get older, it also seems like the perfect month to go all in on family because so many people are checked out. When I first released my video last year I said that you could play it one of two ways. Hardcore hustle or hardcore relaxation. So many people are half pregnant. I don’t care if you want to rest or if you want to work. I just want you to realize the opportunity and go all in.

For me, I grew up in the wine world where you did a lot of business with Europe and in the late 90s and early 2000s I was always confused because August was the time that I got into the zone since I knew everybody was sleeping.

It’s a bigger land grab, because less people are hustling. It’s also the same reason that it’s a great time to go all in on family time because less people are hustling so you’re losing less ground by taking time off. There’s equal opportunity.

The world is kind of checked out in August so you can go either way.

For me, 41-year-old me, working more than ever during the other 11 months of the year.. I have realized that this seems like the appropriate strategy.

Which is why I always say, “My advice, Rick’s advice, Sally’s advice, is only one person’s point of view, you need to read it contextually, you need to be self-aware.”

I would never blindly listen to my own advice and nor do I expect anybody on YouTube, or Medium or Twitter to do so either. I’m just telling you how I do it, by documenting my journey and sharing my actions for what works for me.

My hope is that you might find this interesting, and use at is a barometer to help guide your decisions as well. I’ll be taking my sister to one speech that I’m doing in Boston which is my only “real business commitment” during August but it’s also an opportunity for me to spend more time with her, which gets increasingly difficult because she has two little kids.

Other than that, I’m free.

I’ll still be interfacing with my team and I’ll be planning my strategy for the next 12–24 months at Vayner and with my personal brand.

This month in August is literally more vacation time that I took in the first 13 years of my career. I’m excited and we’ll see how it goes.

But the truth is and why I’m writing this article is to showcase how things change. Things change every day. My advice changes drastically, depending on the circumstance.

It’s impossible to give one piece of advice that appeals to all people. I’m just presenting my POV, which is a snapshot of how I feel at this moment in time.

And let me make this perfectly clear, everything you’re about to see in the video below about the opportunity of August is real. This is the month. And I promise you the DRock’s, and the Andy’s, and the Colin’s, and the Tyler’s (my team members) are going to be hustling hard for our strategy on content, and as a media organization, we’ll be going all in, during this great month of August.

And the funny thing that you people don’t realize is when I’m on vacation, I actually might be working harder 😉 I’ll be plotting and planning my next 1-2 years. It’s time for me to get strategic and really focus on the vision, so I can come back with the execution. I’m going to figure out what I need to do.

I’m really going to focus on revamping my Youtube strategy, filling out my entire team, and plotting the next few major moves for my personal brand. I’m super excited and think it’s going to be great for my long term game. I’ll also get to spend a lot of quality time with my family. I’ll get to travel, be with my wife and make sure to spend time with friends. It’s going to be very relaxing and I look forward to that.

The truth is, I think everybody wins in August. To me, judging it, it is the month where both sides of the extremes check out, or completely all in, which brings disproportionate value in return to either side. The problem is the 95% of people who continue to do what they always do every month, regardless of August, which is be half pregnant on both sides.

So for all you young hustlers out there or old hustlers out there, August is the month. It’s the month where people really slow it down.

The corporate world really slows down. A couple weeks here, a couple weeks there. And it’s super interesting. I always used August as my time to get ready for that fourth quarter.

If you want it as bad as I hear you want it, and if this is your year, and if this is your moment, then August is the time to go all in.