I published a post a couple of days ago about why only having a résumé isn't good enough anymore, inspired by the first 40 or so pages of his book, Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion. It is fair to say I was pretty impressed at this early stage of the book, and I was looking forward to being wowed for the remainder.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I was also surprised; surprised that, according to Wikipedia ‘in the first weeks of its release Crush It climbed to #1 on the Amazon Best Seller list for Web Marketing books. It also opened at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list and #7 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller List.’
To me, this just goes to show that sometimes content isn't always king, and that hype can get you to the top, even if only briefly.
Crush It! is kind of like a ‘How I became successful’ story flipped on its head and spat out as a ‘How you can be successful’ guide. And it is very specific. I felt like I was being spoon fed the content of a social media for dummies book. Vaynerchuk is so specific that in one section of the book he actually lays out 13 point plan, as if you were laying out a five year old's clothes for the day. In order to become successful the way that Vaynerchuk has, you should - nay, must - follow his guidelines. He even begins the list with:
“Let's say you start on a Monday. So on Monday, the first day of the rest of your life, you do the following:”And then he proceeds to itemise your route to success, which includes things like:
- Go to GoDaddy.com and try to buy your name, as in firstnamelastname.com...
- Next, start a Wordpress or Tumblr account. This is the blog sit that is going to host the domain you just bought.
- ...
- ...
- Create a Facebook fan page.
- Open a Twitter account with your domain name.
I was even more surprised to see the enthusiastic reviews that were mashed together into a video compilation; it seems to me these people are all trying to mimic what Gary V does and is, and unfortunately most of them come across as nothing but fake. Is it just me or does it seem like they're all just hopping on the merry-go-round of creating comments on each other's pages and selling to themselves? It would be very interesting to find out who these people are how successful they've become following Gary's recipe for success. If any of you read this, please let me know.
Anyway, credit where credit is due, the book does have some pretty valid advice (enough to inspire me to write a whole blog post about why résumés stink). Here are a few quotes I underlined whilst I was reading:
“Everyone - EVERYONE - needs to start thinking of themselves as a brand. It is no longer an option; it is a necessity.”
“The messages in this book are timeless: Do what makes you happy. Keep it simple. Do the research. Work hard. Look ahead.”
“Love your family. Work superhard. Live your passion.”
“Too many people don't want to swallow the pill of working every day, every chance they get. If you're making money through social media, you don't get to work for three hours and then play Nintendo for the rest of the evening. That's lip service to hard work. No one makes a million dollars with minimal effort unless they win the lottery.”
“Anything insane has a price. If you're serious about building your personal brand, there will be no time for Wii. There will be no time for Scrabble or book club or poker or hockey. There will be time for meals, and catching up with your significant other, and playing with the kids, and otherwise you will be in front of your computer until 3:00 A.M. every night. If you're unemployed or retired and have all day to work, maybe you knock off at midnight instead. Expect this to be all consuming.”
“But patience is the secret sauce. Once you put up your site, you don't want to start and stop, back-track and second-guess. It'll make you look insecure and foolish.”
“To create an audience for your personal brand, you're going to get out there, shake hands, and join every single online conversation already in play around the world about your topic. Every. Single. One.”
“As long as you're seeing your audience grow, even modestly, over the first four or five months, you're doing what you're supposed to do.”
“Find a way to incorporate some personal stories and details into your posts. Use anecdotes from your own life to illustrate concepts. Let your personality shine so that eventually people who have no need for accounting information are coming to hear you just because it's you.”But for me, this book was just a little too simplistic, and too good to be true. For example, in a few places Vaynerchuk suggests that we're all a chance at getting on the TV and speaking circuit. I had to laugh when I read passages like these:
As your audience grows and your blog starts to get real attention in the form of media coverage, ad revenue, and requests for speaking at functions...
... it's entirely possible that someone from The Today Show is going to ask you to talk about board games or your blog on their program.Sure, it may happen. It happened to him. But just because it happened to you Gary, doesn't mean everyone can do it.
It is true that the cream always rises to the top, but in a cup full of cream, some of it is at rock bottom, and 99% of it doesn't even get a glimpse of the top.
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