Why Now is the Time to Crush It! Cash In On Your Passion
November 23, 2009
When I received a copy of Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book, Why Now is the Time to Crush It! Cash in on Your Passion, I was a bit skeptical on how practical and inspirational a 142-page book would be written by a wine critic who sometimes uses rocks and leather as a means of showing the different, flavorful nuances of wine. Yet, about five pages into the book, my mind was immediately changed.
Crush It! is one of the best books I have ever read on how to harness the power of the internet to build a successful business. Its author, Gary Vaynerchuk, illustrates the tried and tested tricks he used to build a $60-million business empire.
The book is divided into 13 chapters. Each chapter contains an element that has helped Gary create his empire. For example, in the first chapter,
“Passion is Everything,” Gary tells us his secret to success. His secret–he lives by three rules: 1) love your family, 2) work superhard, and 3) live your passion. Although this seems like a very basic formula, practicing it can be very difficult.
Also, in Chapter 1, Gary tells us that he will explain a step-by-step process on how to use the social networking tools on the Internet to take whatever your passion is and build it into a business and a powerful brand.
First, we must begin with building our personal brand. Building our personal brand requires that we know what we are talking about. In addition, the public wants us to tell them the truth. If you go to Gary’s website:http://www.winelibrarytv.com/, you will find that his delivery style, when discussing wine, is very unconventional. In fact, some people may think he is too over the top. Yet, the fact is, Gary tells it like it is, and if a wine isn’t good to him, he lets his audience know it. Thus, when you start building your personal brand, always remember to remain authentic.
Okay, now that we know we have to know what were talking about in order to have a begin building our personal brand, what do we do next? We use the social media tools on the Internet and start building our brand.
Some of these tools you may already be familiar with. There’s Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn just to name a few. Choose as many of these tools as you can to get your message out and show the world your passion. If you don’t know how to use them, there is a myriad of books out there that will make it easy for you to learn how to use these tools. Of course, the best thing about all of these tools is the fact that they are free.
Once you become comfortable with these different tools, you will want to go to re-read Chapter 10, where Gary will take you through a step-by-step process for building an Internet business. Although he makes it look easy, don’t forget Gary’s second rule: work superhard.
In summary, I truly think that Gary’s book is a necessary read for anyone, because it illustrates that there is a way for us to live our dreams and follow our passions, and at the same time make money.
About the Author
Gary Vaynerchuk is the owner and founder of Wine Library TV. In addition, he is the Director of Operations at Wine Library in Springfield, NJ. Gary’s unconventional methods of discussing the quality, taste, and smell of wines throughout the world have often attracted more than 80,000 viewers a day to his video webcasts. Gary also convinced Conan O’Brien to lick salted rocks and shared samples of dirt and grass with Ellen Degeneres. Lastly, he has written articles for The New York Times, USA Today, CNN.com and many others.
