Crush It! – A Knowledge Bomb
27 November 2009 | blog,Book Reviews | Comments Off
I feel it necessary to clearly disclose that I am a Gary Vaynerchuk fan boy. I also feel it necessary to state that both he, his brother (AJ) and several members of the staff at Vaynermedia I consider to be friends of mine. Finally, AJ and Gary helped me get my current job at Vemma which was a consulting client of Vaynermedia. All that stated, here’s my quick review of Crush It!
Yes, I’m a month and a half late on doing this review, I know. I took the time to read this book cover to cover now three times just to make sure that I am not having my fan boy status for Gary overcome my opinion on this book. I’m happy to report that this book is verifiably a knowledge bomb. Give this to any entrepreneur or student who has a feel for what the marketing and job landscape is going to look like in 3-5 years time and this book will change their view and more importantly give them the tools to go make their own success story.
It starts with finding your passion and then becomes an orderly walk through each of the platforms and business tactics and strategies that are required in order for a business to be capable of breakout success in the current business landscape. Topics covered include individual platforms (Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, etc), domain name brainstorming, brand positioning, customer service and how to make money from these enterprises. While not comprehensive in any sense, the descriptions on each topic are enough to give people willing to work hard a clear blueprint on how to create a business that has the potential for a liveable income.
The book was dictated and then cleaned up by a ghostwriter but I could hear Gary’s voice as I read every page which made this an amazing experience. (I can’t wait to get my hands on the audible version of this to actually hear him deliver this though.) That stated, I had a hard time reading this book for more than hour. Not because the writing was poor but rather that the content is so condensed that my mind needed time to process what I had read.
While I love how the book walks you through the entire process of going from having found your passion to monetizing I almost wish that Gary had broken chapters 11-13 (covering monetizing, reactionary business and legacy) out of this book. These topics are much more for folks once they already have a great platform and I think that Gary describing exactly how to monetize and look at the big picture once success starts to come will make people jump at the first chance they have. GV even tells people to hold out on monetizing but I know the types of folks who are attracted to these self-help business books and that they’re simply not going to have the patience. Additionally, having a year or two to allow people to figure these things out for themselves would have 1) made for a great set of new content and 2) allowed people to find new and creative ways to monetize and maintain their legacy.
So how is this different from the content that he puts up on GaryVaynerchuk.com? The quick answer is that it isn’t. You can gain all the knowledge that he presents in this book by simply viewing all his videos. Find what you’re passionate about, start a blog, build out your social media footprint and begin to care and hustle all while creating great content. It’s all there but taking the time to read a portion of the book I think has a greater impact than watching several two minute videos back to back will even if you batch together videos with similar topics.
Overall, if you’re reading this blog post you really must read Crush It! at least once, maybe twice. Or even better for GV, read it once, give that copy to a family member, friend, or local library and then go buy another copy and read it again. The ideas he presents here are the operational foundation I present to my employers, companies I consult for or advise or people I genuinely want to see succeed. It’s a short read at 140 pages so make the time for it and you’ll be thankful you did.