Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion 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. Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed here, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand. By the end of this book, readers will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Step by step, Crush It! is the ultimate driver's manual for modern business.

Customer Reviews:

I Wanted To Like It, But.....

By Elisa 20 - October 16, 2009

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... read more

Too much fluff and not enough substance

By B. Flynn - January 5, 2010

At best, this book serves as a good resource for social media and web tool sites. At worst, it is a braggadocios, poorly conceived sales pitch attempting to inspire its readers to just Crush It (yeah baby!). I usually research books prior to reading them. If you read at the same rate as a 5th grader, you have to choose your reading material wisely. This book was more of an impulse buy spurred by a somewhat interesting description of the book. Deviation from a solid game plan is a mistake.

In retrospect, I should have just leafed through the book and wrote down the websites the author noted. This is the books best asset - it is an excellent reference for websites. The author also gives a few interesting successful business cases that utilized social media. But, this was only about 20 pages of material.

Save yourself the time and just leaf through the book and make a note of referenced websites. Also, the appendices at the end summarize the important... read more

Are you kidding?

By Herb Hunter - November 1, 2009

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... read more