Book Review | Crush It!
I received Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk late on a lazy Saturday morning and by the end of the 4th day of it being in my possession, I had read the book in its entirety. I’m not saying that I shrieked in excitement, but my husband probably thought I had been surprised by a toad again (seriously, why are there so many in my garden?!). There was a feeling of anticipation followed closely by excitement ultimately concluded by complete fulfillment.
I had first heard of this book through his sequel Crushing It!, which I had purchased on audible to listen to for the month of July. About 25% of the way through that book, I realized that I needed to read the original. After all, listening to story after story about people who were inspired to change their lives after reading Crush It! had made me quite curious (hint: this is where the anticipation came in). I bought a cheap secondhand copy off of Thriftbooks.com in hopes that I wasn’t doing the proverbial flushing of $6 down the drain. I figured this was the worst that could happen.
The thing I appreciate a lot about this book is that even though it’s slightly shy of 150 pages, he was able to say exactly what he needed to say without the fluff. He didn’t add a ton of anecdotes or stories that proved his major points – a few sentences here and there – but the majority of his book consisted of strategic tips. That may be by design as his follow-on book was the opposite with less strategy and more inspirational stories. I really enjoyed not having to chop through the fluff to get to the good stuff, and while it caused me some heartache in the “choose your platform” chapter (think back-to-back-to-back dog-eared pages and highlighting everywhere), it was extremely effective. He gave me ideas on how to properly leverage the myriad of social networking options out there – from the must-haves to the platform-specific options. Whether you are focusing on video, audio, or written word, he shared his tactics on how to maximize each content base. While chapter 9 makes me think that he may have some stock in a paper company, it was the most effective use of size 72 font that I’ve ever seen (not sure what I am talking about? Pick up the book at a store or in the library… you’re welcome).
While some of the lessons in the book went down like a shot of apple cider vinegar, I walked away with a much better understanding of how the people featured in Crushing It! had built their empire – sometimes literally from the ground up. It is always uncertain if someone will be able to fulfill the prophecy that Gary laid out for people in Crush It!, but reading this book left me energized and inspired. Even if I never take my blog to the heights that this book entails, I have no doubt that if I followed the book to a T that I too could be Crushing It! like the entrepreneurs in the sequel.