Thoughts on "Crushing It" - Gary Vaynerchuk (2018)?

[Anandb]

Has anyone read/gone through the audiobook and its business and social media marketing principles? (the book also seems very much focused on personal branding)

What do you folks think about it?

 

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[smark]

I listened to the Audio book about a year ago as a lost young adult.

Can't remember much but like you said he does focus a lot on personal branding (which should be obvious if you're familiar with literally ANY of his social media posts) especially from the standpoint of first setting up a blog/podcast/content website to make a name for yourself and then potentially selling ad-space and/or products related to your niche.

He also pushes a lot the idea that "whatever you're interested in, there's other people out there interested as well" which essentially shows that almost any niche can be at least somewhat profitable.

I still have my notes from listening to it. I can send you some pictures if you're interested. In all honesty though, since you've already read TMF & UNSCRIPTED, you're best bet is picking up a book on a profitable industry/sector that you're interested in and believe have what it takes to make money there.

 

[Anandb]

Yeah thanks, I'm doing that with academia (social sciences) and with music for now. Learning all I can and getting some quality field exposure.

But I was wondering if he does give any specific insider tactical advice when it comes to using social media platforms like YT, Spotify, Instagram, etc. beyond the general strategic advice of good value, quality, and consistent posting. (which to be honest is probably what should be done anyway).

Thanks for offering me the notes! I already have the audiobook so I don't need them, but I was wondering how far I should keep listening considering I'm familiar with all his general and usual material.

 

[rogue synthetic]

Gary is pushing a "be everywhere" strategy on social media. The book (I'm going on memory here and I read it several months ago, so be mindful) works through a series of principles and strategies for building a personal brand. There are case studies in each chapter which mean to show how this works for different businesses in different verticals/niches.

I came away from the book feeling pretty neutral about it. It's worth a read, don't get me wrong (the best ideas can often come from useful disagreement, IMO) but I'm not sold on branding for branding's sake. Being more in the Halbert/Kennedy school of Sell First and Measure Everything, I'm skeptical about pushing e-fame as the primary way of getting into business. I'm being a bit unfair there because GV says more than that, and he is about some hustle, but it felt to me like that message was lost.

There is some decent advice about using social channels and the case studies are pretty interesting. Have a look and see what you get out of it.

 

[Xeon]

After reading the posts here, I bought the Kindle version of the book lol

 

[Fotis]

But I was wondering if he does give any specific insider tactical advice when it comes to using social media platforms like YT, Spotify, Instagram, etc. beyond the general strategic advice of good value, quality, and consistent posting. (which to be honest is probably what should be done anyway).

Since social media platforms are always changing, I doubt any one book/course will give you what you're looking for. The best advice in these kinds of scenarios is following people who "crush it" in X social media platform and either buy their books/courses or join their continuity programs. (Shrewd marketers always have a continuity/subscription-based program)

If you're interested, Dan Meredith is a beast when it comes to monetizing Facebook groups and Craig Ballantyne recently released an Instagram course using Insta Stories.

Youtube wise, I like how Jeff Cavaliere of Athlean-X does things (he's built an 8-figure company using emails and youtube videos). He doesn't have a course, but you can reverse engineer what he's doing.

Finally, I don't think Spotify can be considered a social media platform

 

[Andy Black]

Gary is pushing a "be everywhere" strategy on social media. The book (I'm going on memory here and I read it several months ago, so be mindful) works through a series of principles and strategies for building a personal brand. There are case studies in each chapter which mean to show how this works for different businesses in different verticals/niches.

I came away from the book feeling pretty neutral about it. It's worth a read, don't get me wrong (the best ideas can often come from useful disagreement, IMO) but I'm not sold on branding for branding's sake. Being more in the Halbert/Kennedy school of Sell First and Measure Everything, I'm skeptical about pushing e-fame as the primary way of getting into business. I'm being a bit unfair there because GV says more than that, and he is about some hustle, but it felt to me like that message was lost.

There is some decent advice about using social channels and the case studies are pretty interesting. Have a look and see what you get out of it.

^^^ This.

I've read the first one ("Crush It"), and went through a personal branding course Gary Vee has on Udemy. It's interesting stuff, but I've no interest in growing a personal brand. I also subscribe to the Direct Response philosophies of just selling the damn thing and then building a brand based on making sales.

"Be everywhere" is a good strategy. Each platform is unique but content can often be repurposed and pushed to each platform natively.

You can't argue that Gary Vee doesn't walk the walk though. When it comes to building a personal brand then he's someone to follow.


I loved this short rant Gary did about building personal brands:

• Gary Vaynerchuk: How to build a personal brand from nothing

 

[johnp]

No, there are better books out there.

If you want to fast track your success with marketing, then your best bet is to start marketing something. Books will only take you so far. Go pick up a bar of soap and try to sell it direct to consumers online (I sort of did this). You'll learn a ton of lessons right there. How to position, branding, and other key direct response principles.

If you really want a book, then check out The Advertising Solution by Brian Kurtz.

It will set you up with the perfect foundation.

Don't get me wrong. I like Gary V. But when I got started with my marketing career his books didn't really help. I like his content more for motivation and entertainment value.... assuming that I don't end up feeling bad for not working myself to death.

You're much better off studying people like David Ogilvy, Robert Collier, Eugene Schwarz, etc.. If you want to learn from someone who still has a beating heart then check out Ben Settle... He's a marketing genius.

Also, personal branding is easy. Just say, "I'm the guy who does XYZ." Get a good case study. Amplify your message. Build a list. Then monetize your list. You really don't need to read some book to learn this stuff.

Just my opinion.

 

[MTEE1985]

I like his content more for motivation

I agree with this. I read it a few months ago but found that his level of social media interaction only applies to so many business as is definitely more for those who’s business is themselves.

As far as the motivation goes, I give Gary Vee props for being the ultimate hustler. I heard a quote one time that went roughly like this “an aspiring entrepreneur who worked a job 9-5 and worked on his business from 6-8pm asked what more he could and Gary’s response was “well, what are you doing from 8:00pm-2:00am?””

 

[Andy Black]

Also, personal branding is easy. Just say, "I'm the guy who does XYZ." Get a good case study. Amplify your message. Build a list. Then monetize your list. You really don't need to read some book to learn this stuff.

I agree. You're building a personal brand with every interaction or lack of interaction. You don't even need to say "I'm the XYZ guy", you just talk about XYZ, help people with XYZ, and be seen to help people with XYZ. When people start tagging you when someone asks for help with XYZ then you know you're doing it right.

Personally, I'd rather use my initial personal brand to jumpstart a non-personal brand, rather than try and push my personal brand down everyone's throats on social media platforms.

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

I feel like Gary's personal brand.......is telling you about his personal brand.

I also disagree that every business benefits from social media. For example, a concrete company has no business posting to Snapchat, because people simply don't give a damn about concrete.

Instead of following a "social media fits all" strategy, a business needs to go where their customers are, whether that's on social media, forums, trade shows, local events, etc.

If I'm fishing for catfish, I go to the lake, not the ocean.

 

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[Xeon]

Currently at page 46 of the 261 page book. Extremely turned off by how every two pages or so, there would be this mini section whereby his fans/successful people would write about how much they learned from his other book, the "Crush It!" book.

The book is starting to feel like a compilation of testimonials about how great Gary V and his other book is. It's like you buy a book to read about testimonials about the author's other book. Kinda feels like paying to attend a seminar where the speaker invites his ex-students to come on stage to tell you how much the speaker has helped them. Major turn-off.

Nevertheless, I'll continue reading this to the end. I don't exactly subscribe to what he says about passion though. Yeah, it's important but it's not the be-all-end-all as he says.

After I finished reading the whole book, I'll post another review here to confirm my suspicions on whether he's another Tai.

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Currently at page 46 of the 261 page book. Extremely turned off by how every two pages or so, there would be this mini section whereby his fans/successful people would write about how much they learned from his other book, the "Crush It!" book.

The book is starting to feel like a compilation of testimonials about how great Gary V and his other book is. It's like you buy a book to read about testimonials about the author's other book. Kinda feels like paying to attend a seminar where the speaker invites his ex-students to come on stage to tell you how much the speaker has helped them. Major turn-off.

Nevertheless, I'll continue reading this to the end. I don't exactly subscribe to what he says about passion though. Yeah, it's important but it's not the be-all-end-all as he says.

After I finished reading the whole book, I'll post another review here to confirm my suspicions on whether he's another Tai.

I think he is like Tai but in a different way. Still a genius marketer but without the fake models, private jets, and flashiness of Tai.

He won't admit it, but Gary has jumped on the bandwagon of trendy entrepreneurship to make money, yet at the same time, he criticizes those same trendy wantrepreneurs for not having #hustle.

Sometimes he gives off a holier than thou vibe, especially on his daily vee show. He's probably quoted himself more times than other people have quoted him.

 

[Valor]

I respect Gary V and what he does in business a lot, but I personally never really got much from his books or his content.

Like someone else here said, it seems to be more motivation and a "you-can-do-it, work hard, be everywhere" approach.

 

[masaldana2]

meh...
it was more like "you can start a business with only $100 and make moneyssssss".
Yeah you and millions of people too.

 

[shelton]

I did read two of his books crush it and the thank you economy and I wanted to personally review it. But I think his books are created just push a go into business just because you’ll make more money than you would if you didn’t do it. The books are there to tell you what you want to hear in a way and to inspire you to do something. In other words his books are made to get rid of any doubts people have about going into business.

 

[shelton]

If you think about has anyone ever made money of his advice. Specifically Crush it cash in on your passion. In fact I find it very suspicious now that I read unscripted that he always advertises but no one ever recommends his stuff. At least not on YouTube

 

[JasonEP]

He won't admit it, but Gary has jumped on the bandwagon of trendy entrepreneurship to make money, yet at the same time, he criticizes those same trendy wantrepreneurs for not having #hustle.

Sometimes he gives off a holier than thou vibe, especially on his daily vee show. He's probably quoted himself more times than other people have quoted him.

Yes, I remember finding him when he first started doing his askgaryvee shows and having his guy following him around filming him everyday. He would always state that he didn't want to be a motivational guru and was only about giving real, actionable advice.

That being said, I can't recall any actionable advice that he ever gave during the time that I watched him. It WAS all motivation. And although he said that he was doing this to help others and not to sell anything, he has done his own "give, give, give, then ask" approach to where he gave all that free "content" for a couple of years and now is selling seminars, clothes, shoes, etc. (In addition to I'm sure getting tons of overqualified applicants to his business that were willing to work for less than they were worth and to put in as many hours as they could to "hustle and learn" from him.)

That being said, I don't know what actionable advice anyone could expect from him. He doesn't know your situation. And his only actionable advice is to "just start" which is something that you can't instill in people. They just start. They can't be told to "just start". Although that is the best advice, it isn't advice people can take. That "just start" comes from within after their FTE.

 

[andyhaus44]

Has anyone read/gone through the audiobook and its business and social media marketing principles? (the book also seems very much focused on personal branding)

What do you folks think about it?

I have that audio book and will be more than happy to share with you via my Google Drive. Just send me a message with your email address and I'll share it

 

[S.Y.]

The chapter on voice-first products is valuable in my opinion.

HUGE opportunity there!

 

[Xeon]

Finished it.

Verdict : I want my money back, Gary V. And no, I'm not gonna buy your upcoming t-shirts and caps with your silly signature on them!
F*ck, the book is probably made up of >= 40% testimonials (each "testimonial section" spans about 9 - 12+ pages, and you will come across these "testimonial sections" every few pages).

I feel GaryV is slowly going the route of Tony Robbins.

In comparison, the money would be better spent on a book like All In : 101 Real Life Lessons for Emerging Entrepreneurs

 

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[JasonEP]

I feel GaryV is slowly going the route of Tony Robbins.

I see what you're saying. I think he likes the attention gained by giving the motivational talks, but I don't think he's necessarily attempting to turn into Tony Robbins.

I feel that instead, what he is doing is simply a tactic to grow his marketing business. As I said earlier, he's probably using it to sell his clothes, shoes, merch, seminars, etc. in addition to getting a lot of qualified applicants to his openings. But this is also small potatoes. I don't think he even cares about this stuff all that much either.

Instead, I feel like the final goal of his is simply growing his social media to get more contracts for his VaynerMedia business. The entire GaryVee persona for all we know may be fake. I remember hearing a random throwaway comment years ago from an Andy Frisella podcast talking about GV and he said something to the extent of "Gary is way smarter than any of you listening to this podcast and you don't get what he's doing" and that is when I realized that his whole reasoning for his push on social media was to be able to point to his social media profiles when pitching clients to show he can get results.

He doesn't give a damn about how much money he makes from his K-Swiss sneaker deal. It's nothing to him in the grand scheme of things.

But if he's pitching a client and going against a titan of industry like BBDO, BBDO will say "We are the best ad agency/marketing firm ever. Look at the clients we have!" GaryVee will then say, "I literally had to send one tweet and now millions of people think K-Swiss is cool again."

Since Gary doesn't have size on his side when pitching clients, he can only go on results. Since he knew social media was untapped at the time he decided to grow his social media so that he could easily prove to clients he was legitimate. Now he not only has a large follower count across social networks, but his followers are extremely loyal and highly interactive when it comes to commenting/liking/retweeting/etc.

This is obviously all speculation coming from my own thinking, but I think he's simply using his following on social to have legitimacy when giving presentations and making deals.

 

[marklov]

Not a fan of Gary V .

I'm more of a Jay Abraham fan mostly his written stuff because he babbles too god damn much in his video info.

I've taken lessons learned from Jay Abraham, Chet Holmes, Mel Martin and Bob Serling's material and made more money and changed my life.

A lot of the companies I work with would not benefit from social media outside of the PR benefits.

They sell B2B and go after contracts valued at mid five figures being the lowest.

Best of all they barely get pitched, while restaurants, salons, locksmiths, remodelers, lawyers, all these "social media" friendly business gets all the gas.

I love it

 

[rollerskates]

I'm reading it right now and I'm not cool enough to be a personal brand, but I do think there are a lot of nuggets of wisdom in there that are useful for everyone. The useful tips so far:

1. People fail because they are putting their energies into the wrongs things.
2. Authenticity is a welcome relief to consumers these days.
3. Block off your hours for all commitments, and then spend the other hours producing content, engaging in biz-dev, and do these things daily.

There's more, but those are what I've written down so far. I realize none of this is new, but he's also got an analysis of each social media platform and talks about how you need different content for each.

I don't think any guru is the be and end all of everything entrepreneurial. I think MJ is probably the most complete philosophy, but I think several others have their good points too.

 

[UnrealCreative]

Got the audiobook.
Couldn't finish it, got a refund.

I'm skeptical about pushing e-fame as the primary way of getting into business.

Pretty much for this reason.

The narrative he seems to push is "become an entertainer and you'll be successful,"
masking it under the guise of "entrepreneurship" and "personal branding."

@Andy Black articulated my thoughts on him extremely well here (quoted below):

Personal branding.

Closely aligned with “follow your passion”.

It’s what the masses want to hear... Talk about yourself, and flood the world with selfies and talking head videos. Build an audience, make loads of money living the hammock and laptop lifestyle.

There were also way too many testimonials from passionite readers of his first book to take it seriously (survivor bias anyone?).

I just find his message severely misguiding, which is extremely upsetting.

 

[ChrisR]

Finished it.

Verdict : I want my money back, Gary V. And no, I'm not gonna buy your upcoming t-shirts and caps with your silly signature on them!
f*ck, the book is probably made up of >= 40% testimonials (each "testimonial section" spans about 9 - 12+ pages, and you will come across these "testimonial sections" every few pages).

I feel GaryV is slowly going the route of Tony Robbins.

In comparison, the money would be better spent on a book like All In : 101 Real Life Lessons for Emerging Entrepreneurs

Thanks for takin one for the team. I've been hearing about it a lot as if lately and was curious about it. You saved myself and others a lot of time.