When first looking at Gary Vaynerchuk, you can easily summarize him in two words: Drive and Hustle. Gary has a very unique and powerful approach, and is a great public speaker due to this.
Prior to building the successful VaynerMedia, his flagship full service digital-marketing agency, Vaynerchuk got his humble beginnings in his fathers wine store; where he learned the importance of hustle. Crushing it! is a follow-up to ‘Crush it!’, where Gary iterates the importance of building your own personal brand.
This post is a summary of Crushing it!, highlighting the best concepts and ideas we have got from reading it and we are also going to tell you whether it is worth reading the complete book.
Crushing It! Summary
Crush it! was Vaynerchuk’s important manifesto; it is a complete inspirational guide to not only creating a personal brand, but the absolute importance of it. Vaynerchuk’s entire philosophy to business and life is that products and services are second to your own talents and unique personality. Gary is known for his aggressive attitude towards working long hours and challenging himself and his following.
Crushing it! was launched from Gary’s “Flip” challenge that was posted in 2017, where Gary encouraged success in budding entrepreneurs by starting what he believes is the simplest business: sourcing local cheap items from thrift stores, junk sites and garage sales and then taking the items and selling them on online auction sites (eBay, Facebook marketplace, craigslist etc.)
This challenge garnered success, and Gary, true to his word, documented the best success stories. He then further documented the people who took advice from his first iteration, Crush it! and combined the two success stories to show his readers exactly how to achieve success today.
Crushing It! best ideas summarized
Here are some of the best ideas and concepts from the book Crushin it!, summarized for you.
Personal Brand Is All That Matters
When looking at the title, it’s easy to confuse Crush it! and Crushing it!. Gary did this specifically for the reason that he wanted to show his readers who didn’t listen to his advice where they could be in 9 years if instead of complaining, they used their time to put their life together and start on a passion project. Gary’s philosophy is that the time will pass anyway, and that you should be patient long term, but to take little steps of action every day.
For those that didn’t heed the advice in the first version of the book, Gary points out the importance of building a brand and how you don’t even need something to sell to get started. The best example is winelibraries.com which was one of the first sites to sell wine online and have a catalog of available stock.
It took Gary many years to get to this point, as his entire young life he had focused on growing his father’s wine business locally. He was one of the first to start producing wine-focused YouTube videos, and his audience grew slowly, day by day, until he was successful. He didn’t advertise for many years, instead opted to only showcase wine tastings and the difference between them. Success followed naturally.
A great example that Gary gives in his book is about a young mother with a brick and mortar business focused on lifestyle and fashion. Instead of advertising the business, she opted to instead document her life on Instagram as a young mother and focus on daily activities.
She would tag brands of other products on her account, and eventually, her following grew, and those brands reached out for sponsorships. Her company has since grown to be a large family brand that focuses on affordable fashionable outfits and decor.
The Top Principles to Social Media Presence
One of the most important sections of this book is the 7 principles that Gary lists to be the most important points to remember when building a social media presence. Gary has not changed who he is since he was a teenager, and most of his following are appreciative of that. Gary will always be unapologetically himself, and here’s how he builds his social media presence:
Attention: Social media changes very quickly, and so do various fads and trends. It is important to show up everyday and pay attention to what is trending and what isn’t and to need be scared to adapt. Facebook, which was at one point the only social media site worth mentioning has now become slow growth compared to giants like Instagram and TikTok.
Work: Gary lauds himself on being the hardest worker in the room. Gary’s philosophy is that you should never consider yourself above any task and should be able to perform even the dirty work. Put in the time and the work.
Speed: Gary has a saying, have patience in the long term, but act quickly in the short term. This means that you should show up every day, put in the work and make decisions quickly.
Patience: To complement the above point, patience is something that we should have, but not in the traditional sense. Many people wait for their life to change, without knowing that it will only change if they put in the work. Have patience only when you are already working every day to get there.
Passion: this section is more about optimism. The term passion describes someone that has a burning desire for something yet that is not enough. You must optimistically communicate it and be generous with giving. No one wants to hear about anything if you’re complaining.
Authenticity: One of the biggest take-aways from Gary is that you should always be unapologetically you. Never change your foundation and your being because you will never be happy. Always be transparent about who you are and what you desire.
Intent: Go beyond the money. Focusing on making money will be a hard road to success. Focus on giving and teaching and you will be paid back exponentially.
Don’t Focus On Content, Focus On The Journey
The problem with social media and content creation is that we always second guess ourselves, or that impostor syndrome strikes and is sometimes crippling. There is no such thing as the perfect content. In 2019, Instagram page @world_record_egg started a page with the sole purpose to surpass influencer Kylie Jenner with a picture of one ordinary egg. It reached 18 million at the time and beat the world record.
This is proof that posting anything with intent and desire and documenting your journey to success and your personal brand will eventually lead you to success. Remember to give before you receive.
Crushing it! Review – Should you read the complete book?
Everyone of all ages can find value in this book. Gary lists a plethora of examples of ordinary people that have reached great success quickly just by documenting their lives and focusing one just a few things. Furthermore, Gary has many free resources available on his YouTube and podcasts where he helps his followers become successful.
Critics of Gary mostly fall under this major criticism: Garyvee focuses too much on working hard and not working smart. Whatever they say, Gary still stays the person he is and pushes forward with his groundbreaking success.
Summary
Crushing it! is a great example of why everyone needs to start today and to stop putting things off until tomorrow. Even if you feel that success is very far away, the time will pass anyway, and your successes will remain at the starting point forever. Be quick in the micro, and patient in the macro. Start your journey off today with Crushing it!
