BOOK REVIEW

Monday, March 29, 2010

CRUSH IT! By Gary Vaynerchuck

OVERVIEW: Why Now Is The To CRUSH IT! Cash In On Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuck shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your interests into real businesses. Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed here, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand. By the end of this book, readers will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Step by step, Crush It! is the ultimate driver's manual for modern business.

AUTHOR: Gary Vaynerchuck has captured attention with his pioneering multifaceted approach to personal branding and business. After primarily utilizing traditional advertising techniques to build his family's local retail wine business into a national industry leader, Gary rapidly leveraged social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine. Gary has always had an early-to-market approach, launching Wine Library's retain website in 1997 and Wine Library TV in February of 206. His lessons on social media, passion, transparency, and reactionary business are not to be missed.

MY REVIEW: When I first read the title: Crush It! I wasn't sure what it meant. However, the sub-title: Cash In On Your Passion caught my eye and I understood immediately. The title of the first chapter is: Passion Is Everything. And I believe strongly that it is! As a minister for forty-seven years, passion was the driving force behind every sermon I preached. Passion is an all-consuming feeling. In my opinion, you are not going to be successful without it. Gary's book is about taking what you have an obsession about and using it to make a living doing what you love. The advice he gives is not about what has worked in the past but is working now. He doesn't write about what he thinks might work in the future. He writes about what has worked and is working right now for him and many others. Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com said of Gary, "he's always two steps ahead of anyone else."

This book was a gift from Michael Hyatt at Thomas Nelson Publishing. I wrote the review because I want my business friends to be aware of this book.