Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk (Audiobook Summary)

(Full audiobook at the end of this page)

Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build their Business and Influence – and How You Can, Too. (This is a follow up to Crush It)

Takeaways

Building a personal brand is the way of the future and he predicted it. You can market your business or your personal brand can be the business. The child who became a lawyer to please their parents can be making the same doing what they love, even if is playing Pokemon Go.

The influencer market is worth billions. Even your 73 year old dad is constantly consuming content.

It’s about quadrupling down on your content. If you think you’re posting a lot, you need to post more. Do it on more than one platform so if one of them has a big change, your brand still moves on.

When you’re not at your job you can start building your brand. A lot of influencers credit their job for the training and education they got to help them build their brand. Look for how your current job is helping you to do the same.

#ads

Stories of people crushing it on various platforms. A lot of the stories are connected to how their lives changed after reading Gary’s first book Crush It. One guy said personal relationships is vital not just trying to get views.

Find that niche you’re so good at and ride it, and ride it. Slowly, methodically get better and expand.

Gary predicts that an Alexa (or smart assistant) in the bathroom will the a thing of the future for time management – reminders, calendar notifications, etc.

Sacrifices will be needed. No more leisure, no more goofing off. Remember the bigger picture. You don’t want to be working for someone else representing their logo. Don’t forget family though unless you can name them part of it.

Don’t pump out the same content on all the platforms. Customise it for each platform. Do one big chunk that can be pieced out. Make it unique, nobody else is publishing and add your own flavour to it. Even documenting the process like Justin Beiber on YouTube, DJ Khaled on Snapchat or other people who made it big when they when viral. (This is what I’m trying to do on my Channel as at 2024)

You need haters, that’s when you know you’ve made it big. Even shun friends or family who do not support you. Get your partner to be your pillar and even take part if possible. Don’t worry about seeming vain, keep going.

‘Everyone’s an ass until they’re a pioneer’
– Gary V

Some smart ideas: Use hashtags, directly DM people, collaborate with others with mutual interest.

Gets into YouTube optimising questions – thumbnail, keywords, title, tags, etc.

Talks about how you must use Facebook because of all the functionality it offers from videos, posts, pictures, adverts, etc. Be careful with live as even the pros who go live have great production and expertise. You find businesses from large to small and you can start as a small business here.

Offers a step by step guide to connecting with people and getting leads on Instagram.

Podcasts are perfect for those who don’t want to show their face or record visuals. People can listen anywhere.

Gary predicts that voice-first platforms like Alexa will be the next big thing. Go create your one minute audio tip of the day. He imagines a speaker in the garage that you can just ask ‘hey voice-first, how do I change my oil?’. So record every answer you can think of and calls to action.

Contents

Introduction.
Chapter 1: The Path Is All Yours.
Chapter 2: What (Still) Matters.
Chapter 3: The Eighth Essential – Content.
Chapter 4: What’s Stopping You?
Chapter 5: The Only Thing You Need.
Chapter 6: First, Do This.
Chapter 7: Get Discovered.
Chapter 8: Musical.ly.
Chapter 9: Snapchat.
Chapter 10: Twitter.
Chapter 11: YouTube.
Chapter 12: Facebook.
Chapter 13: Instagram.
Chapter 14: Podcasts.
Chapter 15: Voice-First.
Conclusion.