Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion is a great read. It reads less like a ‘how to’ or ‘for dummies’ and more like a download from the brain of Mr. Thundershow (WineLibrary.TV) himself, Gary Vaynerchuk. I like his ideas so much that I put signed copies up for auction on Ebay with all proceeds benefiting #socialgood–American Cancer Society, NYC Coalition Against Hunger, and Helping American Students Go Green.
Here is my take on this smart text. I have taken tons of notes in the book and will quote Gary and offer everyone the Startup Officer / @startupofficer (“SO”) perspective where appropriate:
chapter ONE: passion is everything
Page 1/2 “Three years ago…if I had tried to tell you that you could build a business that creates wealth and the most happiness you’ve ever known with nothing more than passion and a willingness to work your face off, you might not have believed me.”
* SO: Success doesn’t happen overnight, but the Internet has removed many of the hurdles to make it happen sooner.
P3 “Live your passion…every single morning, you are pumped because you get to talk about or work with the thing that interest you the most in the world.”
* SO: Excitement and passion are not only attractive, they reflect another quality, authenticity which is talked about later.
P5 “Everyone knows the Internet represents one of the biggest cultural shifts since the printing press, but I think society has been slow to recognize that is represents the biggest shift in history in how we do business. Like, ever.”
* SO: Classic Gary talking here. I agree, mostly. I am sure there are some industrialists and technologists that can offer great advancements in business. But his point is well taken. There is a paradigm shift occurring. As Julien Smith (@julien) mentioned recently at the Trust Summit in NYC, ‘the hyperlink has erased the hierarchy’.
P6: “It makes total sense that if this is where the eyeballs are going, this is where business has to go.”
* SO: totally agree. This is how Gary shows us that the old guard platform is about to crumble. READ the last paragraph page 6. Twice.
P9 “Everyone—EVERYONE—needs to start thinking of themselves as a brand. It is no longer an option; it is a necessity.”
“Let me reiterate that the process I am going to be talking about takes a lot of time, effort, and focus, but not a lot of dollars, if any.”
* SO: Be the brand, don’t buy the brand.
P12 “Do what makes you happy. Keep it simple. Do the research. Work hard. Look ahead.”
* SO: reminds me of Ted Janulis (former head of Investment Management) comment at Lehman Leadership Retreat—“Keep your head down and head up at the same time.
P13 “Ultimately this book is not about making a million dollars, although it just might help you do that. It’s about ensuring your own happiness….”
* SO: Success can be measured in many ways; money can be part of it but not without happiness.
TWO: success is in your DNA
P16 “For a business guy I talk a lot about DNA…path to your successful business literally lies in the twists and turns of your own double helix.”
* SO: Some people are natural entrepreneurs, some are not. It’s also about what’s inside you and your experience. Maybe Malcolm Gladwell has some thoughts on how much time it takes to become a virtuoso business owner.
P17/18 “I’m convinced, in fact, that if things had been a little easier for my family in the early days, I never would have gotten to where I am now.”
* SO: Okay, so it’s DNA and hunger.
P20 “By the time I was eight years old, I had several lemonade stands and was raking in crazy amounts of cash…”
* SO: If your kid is showing a passion, give them a gentle nudge, but really they know what they want even that young.
P26 “It was there, on the New Jersey Turnpike, that I had my aha moment… I going to use video blogs to build a whole new world for wine, and for myself.”
THREE: build your personal brand
P28 “Whether you’re delivering your content by video, podcast, or blog, it’s the authentic you, the one thing that is guaranteed to differentiate yourself from everybody else, including those who share your niche or business model.”
* SO: Be yourself, that’s enough to be able to compete.
P32 “Consumers want you to tell them the truth. Sure, they want quality and service and value and entertainment, but above all they want to know that the person they’re dealing with is being honest.”
* SO: That’s good advice, nothing prosaic to add here.
P34 “You’ll crush it as long as you concentrate on being yourself. Besides, you can’t be like me.”
*SO: Do you see a trend here in this chapter? Just be.
P36 “Leveraging social networks…is all about building word of mouth…the Internet and social networks….have pumped world of mouth up like it was on steroids.”
*SO: Work smarter not harder. Let the internet do its work for you.
P38 “Developing your personal brand is the same thing as living and breathing your resume”
*SO: Soon it will be time to renovate your b-card to list your Twitter alias and LinkedIn or Google profile.
FOUR: a whole new world
P41 “Business in the future is going to be a field day for everyone with talent because they’ll no longer be forced to exist within the confines of old-guard institutions.”
“The platform is sinking because of the readers are going online, which means that the ad money is going online.”
*SO: Move over telecommuting, a Paradigm Shift is coming.
P43 “There have always been people in every industry with hidden agendas, but now there is no place for them to hide.”
*SO: Hopefully this will help carry the truth around the world.
P44 “The middleman has not yet been eliminated, but we’re getting there.”
*SO: The loss of platform allows companies and people to reach each other directly without the need to pay for an intermediary.
P46 “I still want you to plan to leave and launch your own business because life is way too short to spend it working in a job you don’t love.”
*SO: Crushing it with something you love.
FIVE: create great content
P49 “Great content is what you’re going to pump into your social media networks to draw eyeballs to your blog. It is exists as a result of passion plus expertise, so make sure you can talk about your product like no one else”.
*SO: Know thyself for pretenders will be exposed.
P50 “Most people talk themselves out of success before they even start. Their passion is sticker, but they think, “There’s no way I can make a hundred grand talking about sticks.” That’s why you’re going to crush it—because you’re the type who’s going to say, “Stickers? Hell, yes, stickers!””
*SO: Hell, yeah!
P54 “There are people who belong in front of a camera…print…on the air. These are the extraordinary people. The ordinary ones…vast majority of businesspeople, and entrepreneurs out there, don’t have the showman DNA.”
*SO: If you are remarkable, your content will show it and relegate the others to be backseat drivers.
SIX: choose your platform
P58 “If you’re self-conscious in front of a camera but have loads of personality plus a compelling voice, don’t force yourself to do a video blog, do an audio podcast.”
*SO: Choose wisely; ask someone to help you decide if you are a VJ or a DJ.
P60 “Your blog will be your home, your central location with a no exceptions open door policy where anyone can find you.”
*SO: The platform is an extension of you with a history archive
P62 “WordPress is the established leader with the most users. Its design is a little busy, it requires a few more steps to get your content up and shared, but it’s not difficult to learn.”
“Tumblr, on the other hand, is a simply designed site is supereasy to use.”
*SO: both Blog platforms are popular, I am developing content on both and will eventually figure out which one works best for me.
P66 “Your (Facebook) fan page also allows you to e-mail everyone in one shot and allows people to interact with your page.”
* SO: Forget paying for viral marketing and email blasts, Facebook gives it away.
P66/7 “What you do with Facebook (and Twitter)…should be an absolute reflection of how you live in your daily life.
* SO: Gary keeps pounding us with that the truth does resonate.
* SO: The rest of this chapter talks about Twitter, Flickr, youtube and/or viddler, ustream.tv, analytics…WAY too much to add any value. Like it said above – READ this chapter many times.
P82 “Vitamins can give your body a real boost, but they won’t do you much good if you don’t also incorporate exercise, proper nutrition, and even vaccines into your healthy habits. The same goes for all of these platforms.”
* SO: Take care of the platform and it will take care of you.
* SO: general comment—read this chapter many times over.
SEVEN: keep it real…very real
P87 “No matter how big or small you want to go, your authenticity will be at the root of your appeal and is what keep people coming to your site and spreading the word about your personal brand, service, or what-ever you are offering.
* SO: Truth conquers. And so do honesty and integrity and being nice.
P89 “Anything insane has a price. If you’re serious about building your personal brand, there will be no time for Wii…Scrabble or book club or poker or hockey….Expect this to be all consuming.”
* SO: Don’t be scared, if you love yourself and your brand, you will be able to feed yourself at the same time you are being consumed. The existential snake comes to mind.
P90 “I said that you could make a ton of money being happy; I didn’t say you could do it overnight.”
* SO: Patience is a virtue, don’t be a silly rabbit and try to find a shortcut.
P93 “How did someone like me, who is so obviously not a patient guy, cool my heels for so long? Because I was 100% happy.”
* SO: Slow it down and let your happy quotient lead you.
EIGHT: create community: digging your internet trench
P95 “Creating community is about starting conversations.”
* SO: If it’s better to give than to receive, then it’s much better to open dialogues than just talk your face off.
P97 “I would read hundreds of blog posts and leave comments on many of them. I’d spend time on wine forums and read what other people said and then comment on those comments.”
* SO: It’s exhausting but connecting to everyone and sharing is what it’s all about.
NINE: the best marketing strategy ever
P 102 “CARE.”
* SO: If you ever walk into Wine Library you will learn the meaning of the word C-A-R-E.
TEN: make the world listen
P 104 “Buy both .com and .tv if possible because you never know if you’ll need them and there’s no obligation to launch both. While you’re at it, buy the domain names for your children if you can.”
* SO: Think about the whole world, not just yours.
P 105 “7. If you’re doing video, open a TubeMogul account. If you’re doing a written blog, sign up for Ping.fm.”
* SO: I haven’t done these yet. Sometimes there are so many websites to sign-up for that I get overloaded. I will need to put together a spreadsheet for all this information.
P107 “Rinse and repeat.”
“We’re thinking of this brand building as a marathon, not a sprint, right?”
* §SO: Like it’s been said so many times before, it takes a lot of working your face off to achieve results. Prepare yourself to train for the challenge of your life.
ELEVEN: start monetizing
P110 “There are hundreds of billions of dollars in ad revenue out there that need a place to go, and they’re winding up online because it’s the best return on investment advertisers can find.”
* SO: Eyeballs equal money.
P111 “Next, start taking steps to get on the lecture circuit.”
* SO: Wouldn’t it be cool for someone to consider you an expert on something?
P112 “You could also consider doing an affiliate program.”
* SO: Say it with me, pay-per-action
TWELVE: roll with it
P119 “I’ve repeated over and over that in order to build a winning business you have to go whole hog with you passion
* SO: There is no holding back on happiness.
P123 “As far as I’m concerned, the biggest hurdle for most corporate brands today is their dependence on their PR people. They’re terrified of the unfiltered message, but what they should do is encourage it.”
* SO: The old-guard will take a while to change; maybe new CEOs will be needed to understand these ideas.
THIRTEEN: legacy is greater than currency
P127 “We’re all in the public eye now, swimming around in a clear glass fish bowl of our own making. With every e-mail and video and blog post and tweet and status update, we add to the real-time documentary of our lives.”
* SO: Good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight.
P129 “This is why every decision I make is weighed in terms of currency and legacy. Will this business deal make me money? Yes? Good. Will I be proud of how I made that money? Yes? Okay, then, let’s do this. If the answer is no, I don’t go there, ever. Legacy always wins.”
* SO: Let your moral compass guide you, not your greed.
conclusion: the time is now, the message is forever
P134 “I’ve offered you a blueprint of the step-by-step process…”
“If there’s any message I want you to take away, it’s that true success—financial, personal, and professional—lies above all in loving your family, working hard, and living your passion.”
* SO: Now it’s your turn to build on the plan. Go out there and CRUSH IT.
