It’s relatively rare that I find a book that makes me want to read for hours at a time and finish it in less than two days.
Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Crush It! is one of those books.
I’ve been indulging in a lot of Gary Vee’s content in the past few weeks because I’m confused about my path in life and he has a way of building confidence and reassuring me.
This book came to me at the perfect time in my life.
As of writing this, I just started posting podcasts, creating content on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and writing more blog posts.
His book is all about cashing in on your passion and focusing all your energy on that one thing that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning.
Gary lives by 3 simple rules:
Love your family
Work super hard
Live your passion
That’s it. Seems easy enough right?
Maybe not for everyone. Some of those steps may be difficult or confusing to some and that’s probably the reason they aren’t truly happy.
He says your family should always come first. You should be doing anything and everything you can to take care of them. And this doesn’t have to mean your traditional definition of “family”.
Family is anyone who is there for you through thick and thin. The people who support you in all that you do. Pick you up and dust you off when you fall. Then cheer you on when you succeed.
These are the people you need to keep around and support.
Working hard makes sense logically, but for a lot of people, it’s difficult to actually put in the amount of work it takes to be successful.
I know I struggle with this a lot sometimes.
When I’m doing something I really don’t care much about, I don’t put in maximum effort. I just do what I need to in order to complete it. Like studying for exams, projects, house work. You just put in some effort and you’re done.
Living your passion is the most difficult one of the three in my opinion.
For so many people, it’s difficult to find that one thing you’re truly passionate about. That one thing that gets you hyped every day. Motivates you to stay up until 3 AM every night and wake up at 6 AM every morning. The thing you can talk about for hours and never grow tired.
That’s not an easy endeavor. This is the step I’m struggling most with at this point in my life. At the same time, it’s the one I’m focusing on the most.
From watching and listening to Gary Vee’s content, I’m fully in the mindset of taking these next few years of my life to find what I’m passionate about.
22 years old. One year out of college. Just quit a job. No idea what to do with my life.
I know I don’t want to just find another job because I won’t care about it. I won’t want to be there and I’ll quit after a short amount of time.
Gary always says the best way to find your passion is to try new things. That’s what I want to do more than anything at this stage of my life.
I’m ready to take risks and go after the things I believe I’ll enjoy most. If I decide later on that I’m no longer interested in something, I can easily move on and continue looking for my passion.
My wish is that more people my age would do the same thing.
It’s scary to think that so many young adults are ready to graduate college, find a job just as a way to pay the bills, start a family, and fall into a routine for the next 40 years until retirement.
I know not even thinks the same as me and for most people, that idea doesn’t sound too bad. If you truly believe that, then by all means carry on. I’m not judging you in any way.
It truly is all about self awareness and I know myself better than anyone else. I cannot and will not follow that typical story. I will pursue my interests until I find my passion and when I find it, I will invest everything that I have into it.
After you Find your Passion
If you’re one of the lucky ones who knows what they’re passionate about and you’re certain you can happily work harder than ever, every day, without getting discouraged when things don’t move as quickly as you’d like, it’s time to start.
Gary goes into immense detail and gives multiple examples of how you can cash in on what you love and confidently build a brand. So much detail, it’s impossible to put it all in this post because I’d literally have to write the book in order to adequately summarize.
Basically, in order to turn your passion into a living, you have to build your brand around it. To do that, you need to get your content out in front of as many faces as possible. Specifically in front of those that also care about what you’re talking about.
You can create content in whatever way you’re most comfortable with. Written word, video format, or audio. You can even do all three if you’re really ambitious.
Once you start, it’s content central. It’s quantity over quality in the beginning. You just gotta get your voice out there on as many platforms as you can.
The most important part in building your brand is being yourself. Your audience can tell if they’re being lied to. Don’t try to change who you are because you think more people will view your content. The fans you want in your circle will watch you because they like what you have to say and more importantly they like you.
Gary says he loses over 12% of his viewers within the first couple minutes of his Wine Library TV episodes because he shouts and swears. He could dial it back, but that wouldn’t be him, so he doesn’t.
The content you put out in the beginning is what he calls the lure. It grabs people’s attention and brings them to you as they discover it.
The second part is called the lasso. This is when you reach out to bloggers, YouTubers, influencers, people in the comments section, and start a conversation.
You find posts that are in the same realm as your content and you initiate meaningful discussions about that topic. When you do this on handfuls of posts, people will start to take notice and visit your site (which you link in the original comment).
By continuing to do this, you will build a dedicated audience that is actually interested in the content you’re creating. You start building connections with other people who can help you grow your pages to their full potential.
Once you start building your community, Gary says the number one marketing strategy is to genuinely care for those individuals. Literally, chapter nine has one word written and it’s “CARE.”
Building the Community you Want
If you listen to Gary Vee’s content, you’ll know he’s a strong proponent of patience.
Patience is the key to the success of so many people and their businesses.
You can’t look at how many people are following you and get upset by the number. You can’t compare your page to someone else’s in a similar niche. You can’t give up after 5 months and move on because you’re growing slower than you wanted.
A lot of people just want the quick and easy path. The good news is that if you’re truly working on the thing you’re 100% passionate about, patience won’t be a problem. You’ll enjoy every minute you spend building your brand.
Final Notes
Even though this book was written back in 2009, the content inside still holds true.
While the platforms Gary discusses may not be the big dogs anymore, they’re still relevant and the pointers he gives can be applied to the more prominent platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram.
I highly suggest reading this book if you’re ready to live your passion. If you’re not into reading, I can’t stress enough how motivational and educational his podcasts and daily social media posts are.
He is all the optimism this world needs to listen to and he knows his shit.
But his book and content doesn’t do you any good unless you apply it. So if you’re stuck in a job you hate or you’re just ready to be happy, take the leap and find your passion. Once you do, double down on it, build it, and crush it.
