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

by Gary Vaynerchuk

crying about how things should be instead of embracing how things are doesn’t do anyone any good.

Anything insane has a price. If you’re serious about building your personal brand, there will be no time for Wii. There will be no time for Scrabble or book club or poker or hockey. There will be time for meals, and catching up with your significant other, and playing with the kids, and otherwise you will be in front of your computer until 3:00 A.M. every night. If you’re unemployed or retired and have all day to work, maybe you knock off at midnight instead. Expect this to be all consuming.

1. Go to GoDaddy.com. and try to buy your name, as in first-namelastname.com. If it’s not available, try yourname.tv. Now, I got lucky with a name like Gary Vaynerchuk.

Say it with me: Anything is better than zero.

I like this one because right now I'm bringing in only about $1k-$2k/month writing. It's easy to compare myself to the big names, and even the other copywriters I know, and feel like a loser.

That’s not how it works. Not in my world, anyway. No matter how big you get, every e-mail, every customer, every friend, every single person with whom you come into contact matters and deserves respect and attention.

If there’s any message I want you to take away, it’s that true success—financial, personal, and professional—lies above all in loving your family, working hard, and living your passion. In telling your story. In authenticity, hustle, and patience. In caring fiercely about the big and the small stuff. In valuing legacy over currency. Social media is an important part of it for now, but maybe it won’t always be.

1. Identify your passion. 2. Make sure you can think of at least fifty awesome blog topics to ensure stickiness. 3. Answer the following questions: • Am I sure my passion is what I think it is? • Can I talk about it better than anyone else? 4. Name your personal brand. You don’t have to refer to it anywhere in your content, but you should have a clear idea of what it is. For example, “The no-bs real-estate agent,” “The connoisseur of cookware,” “The cool guide to young-adult books boys will love to read.” 5. Buy your user name—.com and .tv, if possible—at GoDaddy.com. 6. Choose your medium: video, audio, written word. 7. Start a Wordpress or Tumblr account. 8. Hire a designer. 9. Include a Facebook Connect link, Call-to-Action buttons, Share Functions, and a button that invites people to do business with you in a prominent place on your blog. 10. Create a Facebook fan page. 11. Sign up for Ping.fm or TubeMogul and select all of the platforms to which you want to distribute your content. Choosing Twitter and Facebook is imperative; the others you can select according to your needs and preference. 12. Post your content. 13. Start creating community by leaving comments on other people’s blogs and forums and replying to comments to your own comment. 14. Use Twitter Search (or Search.Twitter) to find as many people as possible talking about your topic, and communicate with them. 15. Use Blogsearch.Google.com to find more blogs that are relevant to your subject. 16. Join as many...

online book reviews This one has my panties in a bunch big-time. All you independent bookstores screaming that book lovers should bring you their business because you can offer more personal attention and knowledge, even if you can’t compete on price? Here’s your chance to swat the big boys down: a daily book review video blog. Get two or three of your most entertaining, most passionate associates to talk about the books they love, what’s coming up, what’s hot, what’s not. At the same time, lower the price on your one hundred top-selling books. Spread your neighborhood charm to the world. By using your blog to expand your reach beyond your local market, you will explode your brand and your business.