Adam Turtle, Freelance Web Design in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Since1986
Book review: Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk
- 26th January, 2010
- filed under: Book Review
- 2 comments
I’ve had a lot of reading material over the Christmas and New Year break, but one of the stand-out books I’ve read has been Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk, a book about using the internet to make money doing what you love. It’s a short book at about 160 pages – short enough to read in one sitting if you have a few hours to spend – but is direct and to-the-point, crammed with useful information if you want to grow your own personal brand online.
Who is Gary Vaynerkchuk
If you’re unfamiliar with Gary, he explains who he is at the start of most of his talks. He’s best known for using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to promote his daily video podcast WineLibrary.tv. He built up his father’s wine business from a $2 million store to a $60 million business using the internet as his primary vehicle. He still does Wine Library, but arguably he’s become better known for his appearances on the speaking circuit.
There are lots of video clips of his talks online. Check out this one, which will give you a good idea of who he is and what he’s all about (note: strong language).
The Book
Crush It deals with how to set up a web presence on any topic you’re passionate about, whatever interests you. Then, how to grow your audience, market your brand and eventually start monetizing it.
To be honest, as a web developer, I felt the first 50 pages or so were good but a little laboured. Gary convinces you that life is too short to do a job you hate, so you should start a blog/podcast and start talking about what you love. He sells this point early on, but then spends the next quarter of the book expanding further on it and introducing the technology to do it. Perhaps if I was reading from the viewpoint of an internet novice, I might find it more useful but given my experience I was tempted to skip on a few chapters. If you’re unfamiliar with technologies such as Wordpress, Tumblr and UStream then maybe those parts of the book would be a good introduction.
That said, the book continues with a step-by-step explanation of what to do next, once you’ve chosen your topic. There’s a few tips along the way with how to produce podcasts and write compelling articles, as well as how to keep your audience coming back.
Next, there are instructions about how to use the social media tools available to you to reach as many people as possible and generate a community. The advice offered is very straightforward and logical with clear explanations.
Towards the end, there is some advice on monetizing your blog/podcast. Interestingly though, Gary encourages promoting yourself as an expert, rather than making your number one goal be to sell advertising space and doing product deals.
Criticism
There has been some criticism of the book online, with some people saying that all this information is available for free online. While that much is true, I would argue the case that the book is a valuable resource for all this information in one place, without having to trawl through a load of blog posts offering differing opinions. Also, Gary’s writing style very much reflects his personality which makes it very engaging and encouraging, and since he’s done it before it adds a layer of authenticity.
As well as that, Amazon is currently selling the book for just over £7, so it’s not expensive by any means – a bargain if you ask me.
Audible have also just released an audiobook version of Crush It which I would quite like to check out. It’s read by Gary himself and has additional material to the printed version.
Final word
For a short book, there is loads of information in here for anyone who’s ever wanted to start a successful blog or podcast, even people who are tired of their regular 9-5 job. Definitely worth a read.
Have you read Crush It? What did you think?
2 comments so far
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Adam Turtle™, Adam Turtle™. Adam Turtle™ said: Just wrote up a quick review of @garyvee's book, Crush It http://bit.ly/77AhCb #crushit [...]
Adam, as a web developer and someone already heavily involved in social media I agree the book starts slow. I can see how the introduction of new technologies could inspire someone. Reading this book lit a fire inside of me and has motivated me to think more of myself as a brand. Overall, a quick good read for a low price.