Since I have listened to Gary Vaynerchuk over the past couple of years, I did not find much new. His book, Crush It!, is 142 pages long and arranged in 13 chapters and a conclusion. I was able to complete this book in two nights. It is written in a very conversational style.
Throughout the book, Vaynerchuk sprinkles in gems of insight and recommendations for success. His first chapter focuses on three rules that he lives by: love your family, work super hard, and live your passion. He pointed out that the business playing field has leveled out more due to social media. Everyone who has a business can get the word out and be successful if they have something someone else wants. But the key is to leverage these technologies better than your competitors.
The first part of the book also addressed Vaynerchuk’s path to success from selling baseball cards to selling wine. He shares the lessons learned and how he is currently applying them to his business.
Vaynerchuk also stressed the importance of building your personal brand. He emphasized that it was important to be true to yourself. Do not try to be someone else. Certainly, learn lessons from others but do not mimic them. Your customers deserve to be treated with honesty. You also have to find out what you are good at and enjoy doing. For example, I enjoy blogging, so I do a lot of it. Others may be more suited for video or podcasting. Regardless, you have to find a way to share what you know and do.
In each chapter, Vaynerchuk shares examples of individuals who have set off on their own path and have succeeded. He encourages everyone to pursue their passion and strike out on their own. He does not necessarily mean quit with no plan, rather start developing a brand and community of followers even while you are employed.
To flesh out your brand, you need to create and deliver quality content. Vaynerchuk provided suggestions for creating content, setting up a platform, and monetizing the content. Some of the information is dated as to be expected from a book that is 8 years old. However, the essence of what he has to share is still useable. You need to establish yourself and build your brand through quality content.
One of the useful sections in the book is his outline of a strategy for getting the world to pay attention to you. I picked up a couple of ideas that I plan to put into practice.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Crush It!. I get a feeling that he cares. I can feel his passion as he tells his tale. While this book did have some how-to advice, I found it to be more inspirational in a Gary Vee way. I would recommend it to others.
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