Crush It! Reviewed

Jul 21, 2010

‘Crush it!: Why now is the time to cash in on your passion’ is the work of Gary Vaynerchuk who has utilised the power of social media to create an extremely successful personal brand.

Gary took his family liquor store and turned it from a $4million to a $50 million business becoming recognised as an expert in his field through self promotion through social media. ‘Crush it!’ is Gary’s outlet to inspire his fans on how to replicate his success and build their own personal brands based upon their passions.

“Are you living, or just earning a living? You spend so much time at work, why waste it doing anything other than what you love most? Life is too short for that.”

Gary exudes a contagious passion for success that is communicated through his writing. Gary builds up the flow of the topic to a crescendo whilst short sentences are used effectively to make bold statements and reinforce his message. Gary is certainly a talented man and has an innate ability for bestowing his passion on his audience. The book reads like a friendly conversation. Gary uses colloquialisms and informal expressions to show the transparency and genuine nature of his personality.

Gary talks about his early business ventures franchising lemonade stands, selling baseball cards and then finally his incorporation into the family liquor store business. It is clear that business and being an entrepreneur is rooted into the sole of Gary. However, although he had considerable success, Gary still wanted more and so he built WineLibrary.com, not to sell more wine, but to build brand equity.

Gary offers a valuable business message through his work, that is to simply care. Whilst other companies are more concerned about the bottom line, Gary offers an alternate view of helping the community and gaining trust through hard work and commitment. In increasingly competitive markets, where any business that can gain an edge will succeed, this viewpoint is incredibly refreshing.

Social media gives entrepreneurs and businesses an unprecedented chance to engage with their customers and communicate their message.

If you are interested in using social media effectively this book is a great way place to start. Anyone from a technical whizz to a complete newbie can take important knowledge from Crush it! You not only learn what tools and services to use, but how to use them effectively in order to build brand equity.