The CEO of a multimillion-dollar company explains how he’s able to stay in top shape while running a media empire

gary vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk doesn’t eat during the day.

In an episode of Business Insider’s podcast “Success! How I Did It,” the CEO of multimillion-dollar company VaynerMedia told Alyson Shontell, Business Insider US editor in chief, that he doesn’t get hungry.

“I eat at night,” he said.

Vaynerchuk has figured out a system — for eating, exercising, and sleeping — that works congruently with the demands of running a $125 million company, raising a family, and maintaining a high quality of life.

It wasn’t always this way — and it didn’t come easily.

“A year and a half ago, I was eating like crap, not working out, and generally feeling awful,” he wrote on his website in 2016. “It was a tough life, and I realized quickly that I couldn’t sustain a life like that. It was impossible. So I hired a trainer to force me to be better. I made an enormous lifestyle shift, and I am so happy I did.”

That trainer was Mike Vacanti, who, if you’re interested, has posted the custom workout plan he used with Vaynerchuk online.

Being an entrepreneur had always been second-nature to Vaynerchuk; being healthy was a far greater challenge for him.

“Health was the first thing I encountered in my life that didn’t come naturally to me,” he wrote for Greatist. “And that was a very hard pill to swallow.”

He’s able to fit it all in without compromising on shut-eye — he isn’t one of the fabled four-hour-a-night sleepers.

“Give me six or seven hours,” he told Shontell. “Give me 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. every day, then I work out and then I work. I also take seven weeks of vacation with my family. It’s extremism on my work-life balance. But I’m getting a lot done.”

“That’s something to aspire to,” Shontell commented.

“It’s something to aspire to if it makes you happy,” Vaynerchuk replied. “It’s not to aspire to to make money. I can tell you that right now. You can make ungodly amounts of money working 9 to 5, or 8 to 2 on Wall Street. It’s not about the money. The thing to aspire to that I think I’m a blueprint of is, forget about people knowing who I am or how much or little I make in my life. I’m happy every day.”