January 5, 2010

Comments on Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

For those that don't know Gary Vaynerchuk, he is one of the leading Wine experts in the country and clearly one of the pioneers in Web 2.0 technologies. You can read about Gary on his blog at http://garyvaynerchuk.com/ or review his video blog at http://tv.winelibrary.com/. My first exposure to Gary was on the web site Cork'd which is a wonderful example of how to integrate Web 2.0 into a small business. Personally, I review this site often if nothing else but to get ideas on how to utilize these tools in the right way. The two books I asked for Christmas was Crush It and Andrew McAfee’s new book Enterprise 2.0. I had really hoped to finish both of them over the break but time always gets the better of me.

If you haven't read any books on Personal Branding, including mine (Trademark 2.0: Defining Your Value in a Web 2.0 World), then this is a great book to start with. What I like most about the book is the credibility of the author. He is one of the few people to have actually utilized the new technologies to build a world class brand. For wine enthusiasts, Gary is one of the few honest voices out there. I really like the way Gary hit the work ethic component of building your personal brand. Many authors shy away from this in fear of turning away readers but Gary hits it perfect in stating that you simply have to out work the other guy if you want your brand to stand out. He also discusses various tools, technologies, and processes that might help you in your personal branding effort. The core message is simply find your passion, work hard, be patient, and then monetize it to the nth degree.

The only real disappointment is that the book doesn't really offer anything new if you have read other books on the subject of personal branding. That isn’t a slam on Gary but more of an acknowledgement to the other authors for a job well done. Overall it’s a great book and I highly recommend it.

Posted by Todd at January 5, 2010 7:00 AM

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