CRUSH IT! Author: Gary Vaynerchuk | Language: English | ISBN:
B003WUYQSW | Format: EPUB
CRUSH IT! Description
Do you have a hobby you wish you could do all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take those passions and make a living doing what you love. In CRUSH IT! Why NOW Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses.
- File Size: 187 MB
- Print Length: 142 pages
- Publisher: Vook (October 14, 2010)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B003WUYQSW
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,729 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Technology > Innovation - #14
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Entrepreneurship & Small Business > Small Business - #15
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Entrepreneurship & Small Business > Starting a Business
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Technology > Innovation - #14
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Entrepreneurship & Small Business > Small Business - #15
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Entrepreneurship & Small Business > Starting a Business
Now that I've read the mystifying rave reviews of this book--and seen in one day how 12 people have already marked my review as "not helpful", I wish I could rank this book even lower. I was being kind with 2 stars. (The extra one was a nod for explaining to people who may not have thought of it before, some of the "branding" potential of social media. Oh, and for using a book as a PR piece--even though that is also a major NEGATIVE factor to me).
I looked forward to this book. I share Gary's idea that the internet + its social media has created amazing new opportunities for entrepreneurs with the know-how to fully utilize it. I agree with his vision of relentless and disciplined branding in every way that this new media offers.
The problems? First, as others have mentioned, Vaynerchuk started out in his father's already-successful wine merchant business. Vaynerchuk expanded his father's business innovatively via social media branding (taking it from $4 million to, he says, $50 million), but that does not make his experience easily replicable for the people he's exhorting to "crush it" like he did. Nor does it seem wise for him to urge others, including many who don't have his financial family "safety net", to quit their jobs and "follow your passion". He hasn't "been there" (struggling, like most people do, without a lucrative family business to fall back on). His advice to give it all up to work 24/7 and follow your passion could be very irresponsible, especially in this unforgiving economy.
Sadly, "Crush It" falls into the category of "book written because someone has gotten rich at doing something".
I recently saw this book pumped by Fox and other outlets with everybody talking up the brilliance of the author. On Fox he explained the premise behind the book, his passion for wine, etc., but I still didn't see what the fuss was about. Nevertheless, I borrowed a copy and checked it out like everybody else caught in the whirlwind.
As soon as I saw favorable promotions on the cover written by that shallow, self absorbed fool Tim Ferris (author of The Four Hour Work Week), I was immediately glad I didn't pay a cent for this book. Content wise, it is a short summary of the latest internet venues that won't come as a surprise to anyone under 40 who hasn't been living in a cave since high school. Anyone older could use the book as a decent primer on all things beyond Friendster, including of course Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Plaxo (but no Linked In-?) etc. Even so, a primer should either be a freebie on the web or something more substantial than 142 pages of big print hardcover brochure-ware selling for twenty bucks a copy. If you must get one, please avail yourself of a Borders coupon or wait till someone has a sale in a month or so - paying full price would be a genuine slap in the face you don't deserve.
On that note, it seems that more non-fiction books ostensibly offering how-to marketing advice are going away from actual useful content and drifting into ad-ware territory. This book is no exception, and is a loss-leader used as an adverising medium to up-sell the reader on whatever else the author has in store (see also Buyology, and practically everything sold in the real estate section these days, especially by Kiyosaki and Robert G. Allen).
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