Go all-in on your strengths. Something author and social media guru Gary Vaynerchcuk is all about. Finding out what are your strength and how to operate the noise world of social media is where his book Crush It! why now is the time to cash in your passion, comes into play. Even though the book is written in 2009, it provides amazing value that it still very relevant today.
Crush it is all about finding your strength, using the tools available today and making it big. Gary is all about hustle, but hustle becomes easier when your passion is what is driving you. Making it big it today’s world doesn’t need a lot of money. This book brings to light some great social media strategies, but at its core it is all about self awareness. Being self aware of our strengths, and how to maximise the passion we have on a particular subject.
The world of social media will continuously evolve but the basics stay the same. Use tools to find out about our customers, bring value to them. By sharing what we are passionate about we can build a tribe of raving fans. If you know Gary Vaynerchcuk than you know he is all about the execution on the plan. We will fail if we don’t learn to execute on our passions. Below are the 5 attitudes this book brings to light.
1. Passion
Passion is the basis of the book. Without passion the work expected to succeed will be too demanding and we will fail at it. Passion is putting in the extra hours into the business. It is getting up earlier than anybody at home to put get some work done. Passion is about writing a blog post after a long day at work. Passion is not living for vacations, because we love the work we are doing. When we are passionate we actually don’t count the hours we are working because it isn’t work. We may earn money but as we love what we are doing. Money is not the reason why we’re doing it, we are doing it for the love of it. Passion is what will turn stress into excitement.
2. Authenticity
Being authentic is a word that is used a lot today. Gary describes authenticity as our ability to ensure every business decision we make is rooted in being true to who we are. If you are loud, be loud. Some people will like it and some will not. If you try to tone it down to fit the people who don’t like it you will lose the people who love your content. Since you are not doing what is truly you, it will become harder and harder to continue. I’ve seen his posts in the car, on the sideways, but what comes across is his passion for the subject. His information is shared authentically every time by knowing who he is and what works best for him.
3. Hustle
If you have passion and deliver that passion to your audience in a way that is truly authentic, we are on the track to win. However, there is one thing where someone without passion or a poorer delivery method can beat us, that’s hustle. Hustle is the drive to achieve what we set out to accomplish. It’s the instrument we need to take our passion and deliver it to an audience authentically. Hustle is the execution of our passion. Hustle is getting up in the morning, sleeping late and the willingness to do it over and over again. It will be the driving force for you to learn everything about your niche. Hustle should harness the non stop talking about your passion when you meet someone who is interested in the same thing as you.
4. Patience
Aristotle famously said that patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Patience is the one virtue we have to develop as it is the curve ball that most entrepreneurs aren’t ready for. It is actually the one that I was most unaware of, just because I was working on my blog for 3 months I expected that I should have a audience willing to work with me. Patience will test our passion and our hustle and will ensure that only the truly passionate or the ones among us with the most hustle will win.
In a world of instant access to audiences, purchase with a single click and overnight delivery, patience is secret sauce of success. If we are passionate about what we do, the outcome shouldn’t matter. Patience was the key to continually investing in ourselves, continuously learning about our niche. It is what keeps our eyes on the bigger picture; it doesn’t let the little success we get to get to our heads. Gary grew wine library from 4 to 10 million dollars and kept investing in himself, learning to develop an amazing palate for wines. Not increasing his salary, but rather investing in the growth of his company.
5. Legacy
The bit about legacy is what resonated with me the most. Legacy is something I didn’t think about till I became a parent. Maybe it is what John Lee Dumas calls the baby effect. I wasn’t paying much attention to my long term views and actions. With social media in play, everything we do is the in the public eye, every action is an action towards our biography. Which is great when we accomplish something great, also has the flipside when we fail at something. In crush it Gary talks about weighing every decision on how it till look years down the road. Is it something my daughter can be proud off? Is it a decision I can be proud off? Even when it comes to jewellery I always preferred making items that had some value when being passed down from one generation to another. Jewellery that was the latest trend seems to be just that, a trend, not able to withstand the power of designs of a classic jewellery masterpiece.
After reading the book, I was thinking of the people who I consider my mentors online and realised that all of them have these qualities. All of them have build massive following online of raving fans. Meeting them in person, would be exactly how they are online when we engage with them.
Gary shows us simple ways of using social media to our advantage. However, unless we find our passion and are willing to execute on it, they are meaningless. Finding our passion, being true to ourselves and our brand is what matters today. Consistency of our hustle matters, having patience and seeing the big picture is important. Setting the tone of our business and staying true to it is what builds a legend of a business, one that will stand the test of time.
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