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

by Gary Vaynerchuk

Live your passion. What does that mean, anyway? It means that when you get up for work every morning, every single morning, you are pumped because you get to talk about or work with or do the thing that interests you the most in the world. You don’t live for vacations because you don’t need a break from what you’re doing—working, playing, and relaxing are one and the same.

It’s never a bad time to start a business unless you’re starting a mediocre business.

You can do better so long as you’re willing to live and breathe your passion. Do that, and you’ll no longer differentiate between your work life and your personal life. You’ll just live, and love doing it.

Everyone—EVERYONE—needs to start thinking of themselves as a brand. It is no longer an option; it is a necessity.

But no matter how modestly or high you set your sights, you have to keep tending and adjusting and making improvements once I’m gone. No matter how successful you get, you cannot slack off or the grass is going to grow, the paint is going to peel, and the roads will start to crumble. Stop hustling, and everything you learn here will be useless. Your success is entirely up to you.

Here’s the deal: if you want it badly enough, the money is there, the success is there, and the fulfillment is there. All you have to do is take it.

Too many people ignore their DNA, however, to conform to what their families or society expects of them.

I had just learned one of my first lessons in business—scarcity breeds desire.

I knew from my experience with the baseball card business that people want to be told what’s good and valuable, and that they enjoy feeling like they’ve been turned on to something not everyone can appreciate.

Wine Library TV was never about selling wine on the Internet. It was always about building brand equity.

To everyone who is freaking out because they fear the noise and distraction of all the additional content on the Internet, you can relax. Quality is a tremendous filter. Cream always rises, my friends, no matter how many cups of coffee you pour.

Embrace your DNA, be yourself, put out awesome content, and people will be interested in what you have to say. Believe me, if you’re that good, people are going to find you, and they’re going to follow you, and they’re going to talk. And getting people to talk is the whole point.

I use analytics very rarely and I urge you not to rely too much on them either, especially if you’ve got good business instincts.

Metrics can be useful, of course, but the effect of your online interactions and the excitement building toward your brand isn’t accurately reflected by the number of viewers you have.

Someone with less passion and talent and poorer content can totally beat you if they’re willing to work longer and harder than you are. Hustle is it. Without it, you should just pack up your toys and go home.

The cool thing about hustle, though, is that it’s one more thing that equalizes the playing field.

The thing is, if you’re living your passion, you’re going to want to be consumed by your work.

How do you know when you’ve built a community? When one person is listening.

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.