Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too

Gary Vaynerchuk

Apr 2018 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Gary Vaynerchuk, Rich Roll, and Amy Schmittauer

About this audiobook

Four-time New York Times bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuk offers new lessons and inspiration drawn from the experiences of dozens of influencers and entrepreneurs who rejected the predictable corporate path in favor of pursuing their dreams by building thriving businesses and extraordinary personal brands.

In his 2009 international bestseller Crush It, Gary insisted that a vibrant personal brand was crucial to entrepreneurial success, In Crushing It!, Gary explains why that’s even more true today, offering his unique perspective on what has changed and what principles remain timeless. He also shares stories from other entrepreneurs who have grown wealthier—and not just financially—than they ever imagined possible by following Crush It principles. The secret to their success (and Gary’s) has everything to do with their understanding of the social media platforms, and their willingness to do whatever it took to make these tools work to their utmost potential. That’s what Crushing It! teaches listeners to do.

In this lively, practical, and inspiring audiobook, Gary dissects every current major social media platform so that anyone, from a plumber to a professional ice skater, will know exactly how to amplify his or her personal brand on each. He offers both theoretical and tactical advice on how to become the biggest thing on old standbys like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat; podcast platforms like Spotify, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and iTunes; and other emerging platforms such as Musical.ly. For those with more experience, Crushing It! illuminates some little-known nuances and provides innovative tips and clever tweaks proven to enhance more common tried-and-true strategies.

Crushing It! is a state-of-the-art guide to building your own path to professional and financial success, but it’s not about getting rich. It’s a blueprint to living life on your own terms.

Ratings and reviews

Negative: Too much self promotion of his other book. Without fail every other chapter plugs the first book. Distracts from the message and adds no value to the new reader "In x book I learned so much"... Each time I want to scream at the reader (using the audio book) to just say what helped them beside some vague reference to something else. A few times is good marketing, but dozens of times in one book gets annoying. Positive: Some good points though. Did get a dozen good lessons from it so is worth the read.

I listen to a fair amount of business books, and I was expecting alot more from this one. First, it really seems like he didn't write it. Thats common to have a ghost writer, but in my opinion - it shows. If I'm wrong, then it just speaks to a clunky writing style. The book: Gotta be honest, I didnt end it feeling excited. It was a bit motivational - but not incredibly. Maybe its not meant to be. Its divided into chapters dedicated to different social platforms. But I can summarize the whole approach of these chapters: start accounts on all social media, and use unique and catered content for each one. The testimonials were interesting, though I'd swear this book is designed to sell its predecessor 'Crush it" - because its pretty much a commercial for it. Many times Gary would give a detailed fictitious example of how doing just the right thing can blow up into something else. I can stomach a little of that - its true, but the examples (since they were fictitious) were almost getting to the point of being silly. For the entire snapchat chapter, he points out that snapchat skews very young, and then gives the long fictitious example of "you decide to take over your parents struggling day camp" ... i mean what more of a literal example of marketing to 13 year olds can you have done - if thats your market, great, if not... then clearly he's got nothing for you. ...Except maybe if you're trying to be a guru. He gives examples from his own life/career which tend to be more focused on his career as a business guru (people making money off of teaching people to make money) than on his own experience in business (not saying he doesnt have the experience - there is some examples he uses from his wine business, but thats honestly all he references a couple of times). Several of the testimonials were people following similar guru-paths. I dont want to be a 'personality' - i get it, I'm sold on the idea of how to leverage it - but there are lots of great businesses that dont take that path. So if you're not interested in taking THAT path towards entrepreneurship - this book isnt for you. Audio: As for the audio itself... wow, what a disappointment. Gary is known for being outspoken, loud, and vivid... He needed to try to speak from the heart and not read it so dry. It probably added to the feeling that it didnt seem to be his style. I'd have preferred someone else read the book. Just an example - because its a pet peeve of mine with people giving presentations... pronouncing the word "a" as "aye" ... is something people only do when reading and it sounds so unnatural. Secondly - I really cant believe the producer didn't notice what I'm about to say... the testimonials are odd. They are read mostly by two other readers, and I think just a couple of them are read by the real person. But the biggest issue with it is the change of 'person'. Someone will read a testimonial saying "He read Crush it and..." and then in the next sentence change to "I started my instagram ...." it sounds so odd, almost confusing why its changing from third to first person back and forth - read by the same reader. Gary should have read all the the third person parts. With audiobooks read by the author, sometimes you get some fun elements to it - there were few. Everytime he went from the text (maybe a dozen or so times in total) he'd preface with "ok guys im gonna go off script here..." (like literally every time) - so even when he was speaking naturally, it didnt come across naturally. You're definitely not getting the Gary Vee Experience on this book. I recently read another popular business book about being 'obsessed' read by its loud mouth author, if nothing else it was full of energy.... and something Gary needs to take a hint from before reading another book for audio.

Gary can't focus in on a topic to save his life. He's way to broad with the information he gives and there's nothing really useful in the book to expanding a business. Would avoid this read at all costs.

About the author

Gary Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur and serves as the chairman of VaynerX, the CEO of VaynerMedia, and the creator and CEO of VeeFriends. Gary is considered one of the leading global minds on what’s next in culture, relevance, and the internet. Known as “GaryVee,” he is described as one of the most forward thinkers in business. He is a New York Times bestselling author, a sought-after public speaker, and a prolific investor in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, Snapchat, Coinbase, and Uber. Gary serves on the board of Bojangles Restaurants, Global Citizen Forum, MikMak, and Pencils of Promise. He is also a longtime Well member of charity: water.