Crushing It!

Gary Vaynerchuk

📚 GENRE: Business & Finance 

📃 PAGES: 288

✅ COMPLETED: October 18, 2023

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Buy Book

Short Summary

Gary Vaynerchuk used social media and personal branding to grow his family’s wine shop from a $4M business to a $60M empire. Now the chairman and CEO of VaynerX, Gary shares the secrets behind his success and why social media is the key to building a strong personal brand, no matter who you are or what you love to do. 

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Do What You Love, Document It — It doesn’t matter who you are or what you love to do. With the rise of social media and YouTube, anyone can build an audience and a personal brand online. Simply do what you love to do and document your process using content like videos and blog posts. Share your passion with the world, no matter what it is. 

2️⃣ Use Social Media — Social media is essential to building a strong personal brand. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, or YouTube, every social media platform has its unique qualities and advantages. Create content tailored to each platform. 

3️⃣ Go Where the Attention Is — Always keep an eye on the future, and never stop finding ways to innovate and push the boundaries. Keep tabs on the latest technology and social media platforms that are capturing the public’s attention. The key is to always pay attention to the latest tech trends and what people are interacting with. Go where the attention is. 

Favorite Quote

“It's in everyone's best interest to build a personal brand, even if they have little interest in becoming rich or famous.”

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • About the Author — Gary Vaynerchuk is chairman and CEO of VaynerX, a $150-million-plus media holding agency that includes VaynerMedia and PureWow. He is one of the world’s leading marketing experts and a four-time New York Times bestselling author. After growing his family wine business from a $4 million to a $60 million business, he developed and now runs VaynerMedia, one of the world’s hottest digital agencies. He knows his stuff, and he knows it cold. 
  • Social Media: The Way Forward — When it comes to building a business or a personal brand, social media is the way forward. Through social media, all of us can have a voice and a brand. If you have a talent, skill, or hobby that you love, you can create content and use social media to share it (and yourself) with the world. In today’s highly digital (and social) world, this is the path forward. Social media must be a huge part of any person or business’s marketing strategy. It’s the future. It’s how you connect with people and build yourself. If leveraged correctly, you can use social media to do what you love and get paid for it.
    • Quote (P. 3): “Today there are millions of people just like me who have used the Internet to build personal brands, thriving businesses, and a life on their own terms. Those who are truly crushing it have grasped the brass ring of grown-up-hood — building a lucrative business around something they love that enables them to do what they want every day.”
    • Quote (P. 4): “Because the secret to their success (and mine) had nothing to do with where they came from, whom they knew, where they went to school, or what field they were in. Rather, it had everything to do with their appreciation for the platforms at their disposal and their willingness to do whatever it took to make these social media tools work to their utmost potential.”
    • Quote (P. 7): “The explosion of YouTube and Instagram, the emergence of podcasts, the ubiquity of platforms like Facebook and Twitter — all have led us to the tipping point I predicted nine years ago. You already have the tools to build the kind of powerful personal brand that can change your future.”
    • Quote (P. 9): “When it comes to professional opportunities, this is the best time to be alive in the history of humankind. I don’t want anyone to waste it.”
  • This Book’s Goal — This book is designed to help readers learn about the different available social media platforms and, at a deeper level, how to use the digital tools available in the world to do what you love and get paid for it. Vaynerchuk’s goal is to show the reader how to build a powerful personal brand by leveraging the Internet and social media.
    • Quote (P. 7): “It’s in everyone’s best interest to build a personal brand, even if they have little interest in becoming rich or famous.”
    • Quote (P. 8): “Imagine the security you would feel if you had something going on the side that you could blow up big if you unexpectedly had nothing but time.”
    • Quote (P. 8): “If you’re earning what you need to live the life you want and loving every day of it, you’re crushing it.”
  • Be Open to Everything — Because you can now do what you love (literally anything you love), share it with the world on social media, build a following, and get paid (either as a side hustle or an actual business), parents should never frown on anything their child wants to do with their life. You no longer need to compromise. Love dolls? Share your love and expertise about dolls with the world by creating all kinds of content. Build a doll-lover following. Collaborate with other people who love dolls. Doing this can lead to so many lucrative opportunities. As a parent, you should always encourage your child to do what they truly love, especially today. There’s an audience for everything.
    • Quote (P. 8): “Stories like that are no longer uncommon, and they illustrate why we need to give our children as much freedom as possible to gravitate toward what they love doing. Because in their world, nothing will be off-limits when it comes to how you can make a good living and build a stellar career.”

Ch. 1: The Path Is All Yours

  • Digital Movement — Traditional media is fading, and it’s fading fast. People are spending far more time on their phones browsing social media, streaming shows and movies, watching YouTube, listening to podcasts, and shopping on Amazon. Whether it’s blog posts, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, TikTok clips, online courses, Twitter threads, or Instagram captions, online content is what you need to be creating. A few data points that reflect this trend:
    • YouTube — YouTube’s daily viewership is closing in on TV’s 1.25 billion hours per day, as television viewership falls every year
    • Facebook — One in every five minutes spent on mobile is spent on Facebook’s apps and services.
    • Instagram — Every minute, 65,900 videos and photos are posted on Instagram
    • Snapchat — Over 3 billion snaps are created each day on Snapchat, where over 60 percent of ads are watched with the audio on
    • Quote (P. 15): “Thanks to the proliferation of platforms and the migration of TV and magazine viewers to the Internet, there is room for many, many more experts and personalities to create a lucrative, sustainable ecosystem that promotes and grows their businesses or even side hustles.”
    • Quote (P. 18): “Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook are the NBC, ABC, and CBS of our day. Your audience is waiting for you. What you need to do is figure out how you’re going to become the next Empire.”
  • Build a Personal Brand — The rise of the Internet and social media has given everyday people the tools needed to build a personal brand. All you have to do is use these tools strategically to share your passion with the world. Do what you love, create content, share it, and build a following. Think of it as using creative content to document and track what you already love to do.
    • Quote (P. 16): “I’m an entrepreneur who built a $150 million media company in part because of my personal brand, which I developed by first creating valuable content that grew my influence. That’s one way to crush it.”
    • Quote (P. 16): “The Internet is an entrepreneur’s oyster, and you can use its pearly platforms to build a personal brand so powerful that the world is not only willing to pay you for your products or services or to promote other people’s products and services, but also it might even be willing to pay you to just be you.”
    • Quote (P. 18): “A strong personal brand is your ticket to complete personal and professional freedom.”
    • Quote (P. 21): “Use today’s social-media platforms to develop your brand and expand your influence, and you can build a business that could continue to grow even if you never touched another hive.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — With all of the digital tools now available thanks to the Internet, building your own personal brand is easier than ever. Do what you love and find ways to create content around it. Then share your content with the world via social media, YouTube, etc. This is how you build a following and a personal brand. Your personal brand can be your side hustle, and it could even become your full-time job. 

Ch. 2: What (Still) Matters

  • Bring Value — If you’re an entrepreneur, you should always be thinking about how your product or service is providing value. How is it helping your customer live a better life, reduce stress, achieve more, or feel better about himself? Whatever the answer, your marketing should focus on these points. Focus on bringing value first. Then you can find ways to make money from the value you’re providing. 
  • What Really Matters — Many entrepreneurs work hard but put their time and effort into the wrong things. What really matters is a short list: intent, authenticity, passion, patience, speed, work, and attention. Let’s go through each of these:
    • Intent — Why are you doing what you’re doing? What is it that drives you and keeps you motivated to do what you do? You need to always be thinking about your ‘why’. It’s a huge question. Money isn’t a good enough ‘why’; there needs to be something deeper that drives you. Having a strong ‘why’ will keep you pushing through anything. Even when doing simple assignments at work, having a strong understanding of the ‘why’ behind every project will give you context and direction. 
    • Authenticity — You need to be authentic; customers can sense when you’re being fake and you’re not in business for the right reasons. Authenticity is a natural byproduct of being passionate for what you’re doing. If you truly believe in your product or service and believe it can help people, you are authentic, and people will see that.
      • Quote (P. 40): “You will be a thousand times more successful if you wake up eager to share and create something because you believe the world will enjoy it rather than because you have calculated that this is what you need to do to become an Instagram celebrity.”
    • Passion — Your business can’t just be a job; it has to be a calling. The people who are passionate about their work are going to be successful because they naturally love what they do, which makes it easier for them to go the extra mile, work longer hours, and constantly find ways to improve their craft. When you’re passionate about what you do, other people can just feel your passion oozing through. Moreover, passion will keep you grinding even during the darkest times. Bottom line — passion is going to win every time.
      • Quote (P. 47): “When you’re passionate about what you’re offering the world, whether it’s a sales training method or vintage toys, the quality of both your product and your content will more likely be what it needs to be to get noticed, valued, and talked about.”
    • Patience — As an entrepreneur, you have to have patience. It’s going to take some time to see progress. Weeks, months, and even years might go by without seeing success. You have to stay with it. 
    • Speed — Constantly look for ways to squeeze more out of your time. If there is an app, product, service, or piece of technology that will help you maximize your time and be more efficient, get it.
      • Quote (P. 59): “Speed is one of my two or three obsessions in business. I will always gravitate toward the thing that allows me to live my life more efficiently and do my work faster.”
    • Work — No matter what your occupation, you should have the mentality of getting after it. Work hard. Maximize your time, and find ways to squeeze everything you can out of each day. Get better every day. Operate with a sense of urgency. When it comes to being an entrepreneur, almost every minute of your day has to be spent on the business, which is why it’s important that you’re pursuing your passion.
      • Quote (P. 65): “When you first start out, there is no time for leisure if you want to crush it. There is no time for YouTube videos or shooting the shit in the breakroom or an hour-and-a-half lunch.”
    • Attention — Know your industry like the back of your hand! You need to become an expert at what you do. For that to happen, you should be paying attention to everything that’s going on in your field. Understand the trends and where things are headed.
      • Quote (P. 71): “Where are the eyeballs going? What are your customers talking about? What are the newest trends in your field? What are the biggest controversies? You have to pay attention to everything. One of my great advantages has been the ability to see where the attention is shifting even as my competition is looking elsewhere (usually backward).”
  • “Do Mode” — Always try to be in “do mode.” You’re in “do mode” when you are constantly knocking things out. The biggest hindrance to “do mode” is the fear of failure. When you’re afraid to fail or look bad or do something dumb, you hesitate. Go out and be fearless. Go after what you want. Keep doing things that are going to get you closer to your goals. Have a singular focus and don’t let fear stand in your way. 
  • ‘Next Play’ Mentality — As other books have also discussed, when you do inevitably fail, you need to be able to move on right away. Dwelling on it is a complete waste of time and energy. You messed up? Who cares. Next play. As Tony Dungy and Mike Krzyzewski have both noted, you can’t be thinking about the previous play. It’s over, and thinking about it is only going to make you lose focus on the next play. Failure is ultimately bringing you closer to success; you should embrace failure.
    • Quote (P. 60): “I love losing because I learn so much from it. The reason I don’t talk about my failures much is not because I’m hiding anything, but because once I’ve seen I’ve made a mistake, in my mind, it’s over… What good does it do me to dwell on what didn’t work out? I’d rather look ahead to the next thing that I’m sure will.”
    • Quote (P. 60): “Not worrying about what people think frees you to do things, and doing things allows you to win or learn from your loss — which means you win either way. Hear me now: you are better off being wrong ten times and being right three than you are if you try only three times and always get it right.”
      • Takeaway — Do not let the fear of failure stop you. Take risks, put yourself out there, and try. The more you fail, the closer you are to getting where you want to be because you learn so much from coming up short. 
  • Chapter Takeaway — To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be locked in and on your game at all turns. It’s demanding and takes a lot! Before deciding to start your own business, you need to make sure you’re willing to do what it takes. 

Ch. 3: The Eighth Essential — Content

  • Different Platforms, Different Content — Your content should be tailored to fit the specific audience and strengths of the social media platform you’re posting on. You should not post the same thing across all channels. That’s not a great strategy. Each platform (whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or any of the others) demands something different. Focus on developing high-quality native microcontent for each platform. 
  • Create Big Piece of Content, Then Split It — The thought of creating different pieces of content for each social media platform every time you want to post something can be daunting. The best strategy to use? Create one big piece of content, then cut it into smaller chunks that you can use for the different social media platforms.
    • Quote (P. 78): “Creating all that content can seem daunting, but it’s a lot more manageable if you focus on creating one big piece of pillar content that can be splintered into other smaller bits of content that breeds like rabbits, if you will.”
  • Passion + Expertise = Great Content — Great content is the result of passion and expertise. You need to have a passion for what you’re doing, but you also need to keep up on industry trends. You should aim to be the most informed person in your field. Have a great command of what’s going on in your industry. The more you know, the more you can share in your content. When you provide information that others may not know, you’re bringing value. 
  • Document! — One of the best ways to create content is to document your progression. Document what you love to do. Share what you’re currently learning and working on. Discuss your thinking. People love this type of stuff, and it’s a great way to keep track of your own progress when you’re trying to improve your craft. Documenting takes away some of the pressure of creating content all the time — you’re simply documenting what you’re working on.
    • Ex. Spanish — If you’re learning Spanish, film your progression. Film yourself practicing flash cards, talking to strangers in Spanish, taking classes, etc. Maybe someday you go to Mexico to speak the language with locals. Film that. People love this kind of stuff. 
    • Quote (P. 79): “That means you don’t just have the ability to generate unique pieces of creative — you are the unique piece of creative. Don’t worry about getting people’s attention by plotting a poetic YouTube video or writing four drafts of a snappy Facebook status post. Instead, use every platform available to document your actual life and speak your truth. Let people learn who you are, then let them watch you develop into who you want to become.”
    • Quote (P. 83): “If I could give some advice to my seventeen-year-old self, I’d tell him to turn on the camcorder and capture every minute of his training.”
    • Quote (P. 83): “Documenting isn’t valuable because it captures how interesting (or not) you are now; it’s about preparing for how people will watch you ten years from now.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — Document your progression! Document yourself doing what you love to do and all of the projects you’re working on to improve your craft. This is an easy way to create content, and it’s interesting. 

Ch. 4: What's Stopping You?

  • Go for It — There are a million excuses not to try to start your own business. Push past those and do it anyway. Even if it starts as a side hustle, do what you love and produce content around it. Focus on building a personal brand. 

Ch. 5: The Only Thing You Need to Give Yourself to Crush It

  • Own Your Niche — Whatever it is you love to do, even if it’s selling worms, own it and create great content around it. Let the market decide if it’s valuable content or not.  This chapter shares the story of a guy who built a website using the notes he took as he was studying for the LEED exam, a difficult test that architects sometimes take. His website attracted a sizable audience, and he made money by putting ads on the site and creating an eBook that he sold on the site. Own your lane! 
    • Quote (P. 130): “When you really own it, and you put yourself out there and be you, your vibe is going to attract your tribe, and you’re going to be able to make change in this world.”
    • Quote (P. 130): “If Pat Flynn can make a stellar income off a website dedicated to helping people pass an exam only a few people in the country have ever heard of, you can do it with soccer trivia or smoothies. Please dig deep into what you know best or what you love most, or better yet, what you know best and love most, and start creating content.”

Ch. 6: First, Do This

  • Facebook Business Page — Before doing anything else, start a Facebook Business page. Facebook is where you’ll be able to reach the most amount of people. You’ll be able to reach people of all ages and demographics. 

Ch. 7: Get Discovered

  • Networking — Collaborating with other influencers is the quickest and most efficient way to grow a fan base quickly. Reach out to people who are getting a lot of views and offer your services in exchange for a plug on their channel. It’s important to offer value. Don’t just ask for a favor; bring some value to the table. Reach out to these people all, every day. The more you can get your name out there, the faster you’ll be able to grow your own brand. 
    • Quote (P. 141): “If established influencers see an upside to collaborating with you — allowing you to post content on their pages, working together to create content — they’ll get back in touch. If not, they’ll say no thanks, usually by not answering. But if you reach out for six or seven hours a day, you will eventually find someone willing to try something new with you. Once you do, you’ll have raised awareness with thousands of people who previously didn’t know you were alive. Provide something valuable to your collab partner, and you’ll quickly raise your profile as an influencer and in all likelihood make a new friend.”
    • Quote (P. 141): “If you’re just starting out and have no money, this (collaborating) is the number-one thing you can do to build your brand.”

Ch. 8: Music.ly

  • Music.ly, AKA TikTok — Music.ly was a social media service headquartered in Shanghai on which platform users created and shared short lip-sync videos. The official version was launched in August of 2014. Through the app, users could create 15-second to 1-minute lip-syncing music videos and choose sound tracks to accompany them, use different speed options (time-lapse, fast, normal, slow motion, and epic) and add pre-set filters and effects. The app also allowed users to browse popular “musers”, content, trending songs, sounds and hashtags, and uniquely interact with their fans. The platform was bought out in 2017 and changed its name to TikTok. At the time this book was published, it was still known as Music.ly. 
  • “Go Where the Audience Goes” — Don’t be afraid to try new and emerging social media platforms. If you’re creative, you’ll find ways to produce content that thrives on every platform. By getting in early and playing around with new social media platforms, you’ll have a leg up on everyone else. The key is to keep an eye on which social platforms people are engaging with most and build your presence on those platforms.
    • Quote (P. 146): “If you’re seeking to build your audience, go where the audience goes, wherever that may lead. Consume the platform’s content for a couple of weeks to get a feel for what’s appealing to users, then strategize how you can create content that will successfully penetrate that market.”
    • Quote (P. 147): “To label any platform as irrelevant shows a lack of imagination and vision.”
    • Quote (P. 149): “Creative people can be creative anywhere, and the most creative people do it where no one else has tried before.”
  • TikTok Is for Everything — TikTok isn’t just for people who want to lip-sync and create their own music videos; the platform is versatile can be used to do just about anything. You can entertain, educate, document, and create so many other kinds of content using TikTok. It’s an especially great platform for short-form content. It could even be a great platform for short book reviews. 👀
    • Quote (P. 149): “Music.ly (TikTok) is the perfect place for a performance-oriented person to sell a performance, but it’s also a place where a performance-oriented person can sell pencils, or açaí juice, or fidget spinners. An artist could make a video of himself painting or drawing, set to music. A writer can make a video that evokes her mood for the day.”
      • Takeaway — Given my love of reading and the notes I’ve compiled over the years, TikTok could be a great place to share very short book reviews. Longer versions of the review can be shared on YouTube. Written notes can be shared on the website. Graphics with short bullets can be shared on Twitter/Instagram. All of these forms of content can include affiliate links to the actual book on Amazon. This is an example of what Gary means by splitting one big piece of content (written book notes) into smaller bits (YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram). 
  • It Takes Time — Building a personal brand and a following on social media takes time. It’s a long game, and you have to stick with it. Keep doing what you love to do, and keep creating high-quality pieces of content around it. Understand that results aren’t going to happen overnight. 

Ch. 9: Snapchat

  • Snapchat — What’s unique and cool about Snapchat is that it welcomes imperfect, unpolished content. Snapchat is a place where your videos do not need to be perfectly filmed; your photos don’t need to be perfectly captured; and your Snapchat Stories don’t need to be perfectly sequenced. In fact, trying too hard on Snapchat goes against the raw, unfiltered nature of the platform. It’s designed for quick “snaps” of content.
    • Quote (P. 160): “We accept people in their natural habitats, and we understand that every word people utter is not going to be movie script-worthy. Snapchat is simply a channel that captures that unvarnished reality.”
    • Quote (P. 160): “On Twitter we’re expected to be clever or politically astute and insightful. Facebook is where we show off our families and vacations. On Instagram we build relationships through images and short videos. Snapchat, though, is where we put our throwaway content. It’s a relief to many because it demands little of either its content creators or users.”
  • Don’t Limit Your Audience — You should have a presence on every popular social media platform. Every platform has its own distinct audience; don’t limit yourself by avoiding one of them. Just because stories are available on Snapchat and Instagram, for example, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a presence on both platforms. Establish a presence on every popular social platform and focus on delivering high-quality content on each of those platforms. That’s how you build a wide following and a strong personal brand.
    • Quote (P. 161): “You bother because it’s a mistake to give up one of the tools in your tool belt for no reason. Hear this: Instagram and Snapchat are not the same. As always, people are looking for different things on each. Why would you deprive them? Sure, it’s hard. That’s the challenge. But that’s also the opportunity. Because it’s hard, only one in twenty of you is going to be doing it well. You should be busting your ass to be that one in twenty.”
  • Snapchat = Backstage Pass — Use Snapchat as a “backstage pass” to your life. Maybe you specialize in YouTube videos where you show people how to draw. Use Snapchat to create stories where you take people behind the scenes and show what goes into film in g your videos or drawling your art. When you’re at the store gathering your favorite drawing tool, create a Snapchat story around that and show people what you like to buy and why you like to buy it. Again, Snapchat is a great place to post small, raw moments from your life. All of this can apply to Instagram stories as well.
    • Quote (P. 162): “Snapchat, on the other hand, is an entity unto its own. You can use it to break away from the familiar narrative and show sides of yourself that simply don’t exist anywhere else.”
    • Quote (P. 162): “Whereas all your other channels intertwine with each other to support your pillar content, Snapchat stands alone. That’s an excellent reason in and of itself to take it seriously, even when its DNA makes it a natural draw for the mundane and the silly.”
  • Snapchat Discoverability — There’s no discoverability feature on Snapchat; it acts more like a communication system between people who know each other, similar to texting. Because discoverability is tough, building a following on Snapchat requires posting your snap code on your website and other social media platforms. That’s really the only way to add followers.
  • Chapter Takeaway — Snapchat, and more specifically Snapchat Stories, is a great place for raw, unpolished content. You don’t need to be perfect on Snapchat. In fact, trying too hard on Snapchat goes against its very nature. Whip out the phone, snap a random video or pic from your daily life, and slap it on Snapchat as a story. 

Ch. 10: Twitter

  • Twitter: A Conversation Network — More than any other major social media platform, Twitter (now rebranded to ‘X’) is the place where real-time conversation happens. You can search and jump into any conversation you want, whether it’s sports, astronomy, pets, or anything else. It’s where people come for the latest updates on things going on in the world. While other platforms are more focused on content (e.g. YouTube and videos; Instagram and photos), Twitter is more about conversations. Twitter is where you engage in conversations and direct people to your content channels (e.g. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, podcast, etc.); you don’t necessarily post a lot of actual content on Twitter.
    • Quote (P. 177): “Twitter is the water cooler of society, that place where everyone goes to get the latest update on whatever news or pop-culture event is occurring.”
    • Quote (P. 178): “Twitter is disproportionately the place to listen, react, and hijack.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — Twitter is where you listen, respond, react, and direct people to your other channels; it’s not where you post a lot of actual content. Twitter is the best place to engage in real-time conversations and establish a voice in your niche. 

Ch. 11: YouTube

  • YouTube: The GOAT — Of all the popular social media platforms, YouTube is likely the most important when it comes to releasing content and building a personal brand. This is the one you really want to be active on. This is where you release videos showing off what you love to do. This is where you release content documenting your process, what you’re learning, and your personal progression. Outside of Google, YouTube is the top search engine in the world, and it has become so popular that it’s single-handily replacing TV. The ad revenue and sponsorships you can earn on YouTube can be life-changing.
    • Quote (P. 192): “It’s (YouTube) certainly the most important platform for building a personal brand, though Instagram is closing the gap quickly. It could take the place of television. Increasing numbers of people are streaming YouTube onto their TV screens, and during prime-time hours on an average day in the United States, more eighteen-to-forty-nine-year-olds visit YouTube than any TV network, even on mobile alone.”
  • YouTube: Try It! — It can be scary for people who don’t like the spotlight, but you have to give YouTube a try. Your content may not draw many viewers, but it’s worth a shot. Put videos on the platform and see what the market thinks. Try not to worry about what people think of you — nobody is perfect. And remember, it takes a lot of time to build steady followers and grow your subscriber base. Even if nobody likes your content, creating videos will force you to learn valuable skills (e.g. video editing, creating graphics, etc.), and it will give you something cool to look back on.
    • Quote (P. 192): “Please, even if you don’t think you’re video material, give the platform a try. So many people don’t think of themselves as cameraworthy, but vlogging and documenting doesn’t demand that you be glamorous or beautiful or really superficially special at all. Have you looked at what’s out there? Aside from the beauty bloggers, the bodybuilders and the rising pop idols — in other words, aside from everyone in an industry where your looks really matter — everyone on YouTube looks pretty damned ordinary. There are vloggers with disfiguring tumors, vloggers with disabilities, vloggers of all ages and shapes. Vlogging is a terrific way to document instead of create, which means that literally anyone can do it.”
    • Quote (P. 193): “Don’t ever decide for yourself that videos about you or the things you like to do won’t be compelling to anyone else. Let the market decide. Trust me, it’ll be honest with you. Vlogging is a great equalizer, and YouTube is the vlogging mothership.”
    • Quote (P. 195): “Give yourself a year to adjust and try different approaches and see what kind of response you get. Listen to your audience. Ultimately, it all boils down to this: don’t let perfection be your enemy. Do not be another dreamer who puts up ten episodes, gets trolled or ignored, gets discouraged, and takes the channel down. For God’s sake, give yourself a fair chance to succeed.”
  • Vlog on YouTube — The documenting strategy is perfect for YouTube. Post videos of yourself doing what you love to do and getting better at your craft. People love to see that kind of content. People like to be invested in a journey. Pick up your phone and discuss what you’re up to. Do it every day by making it a daily vlog.
    • Quote (P. 193): “Remember, when you’re documenting and not creating, you’re allowed to learn as you go. You don’t have to be an expert (yet). You don’t have to be successful (yet). The only thing you really do have to do is make the road to getting there interesting.”
    • Quote (P. 193): “If you have a lot of interests, if you aren’t sure where your greatest skills lie, if you wonder whether you have the kind of charisma and appeal that draws audiences to YouTube personalities, or if you simply can’t decide whether you’d rather be the number-one American authority on pajamas or the go-to guru for kombucha, pick up your phone and start documenting your day. Put the results up daily as a YouTube vlog.”
  • YouTube Best Practices — There are a few questions you should address when trying to optimize a YouTube video. Focusing on these areas will give the video the best chance of succeeding.
    • Titles — How much thought have you put into your video title? Does the title accurately reflect the video’s content? Is the majority of the title viewable on mobile? Is the title short and concise, emotionally driven, and/or keyword optimized?
    • Descriptions — Are the top two lines of the description keyword optimized? Are there links to other similar videos or playlists in the description? Is there a subscribe link? Are there links to your other social-media accounts? Are all of the links clickable and trackable?
    • Tags — Are there at least ten tags in the description? Are both one-word and phrase tags included? Do the tags accurately reflect the video’s content? Are the tags valuable, that is, do they have high search volumes but low competition? You can find this out by using tools like VidIQ, Google Ad-words Keyword Planner, and Keywordtool.io.
    • Thumbnails — Does the thumbnail accurately reflect the video’s content? If there is text on the thumbnail, is it easy to read on all devices? If there is text, does it complement the title?
    • YouTube Cards — To extend watch time on your channel, are you including YouTube cards within your video to drive traffic to other relevant videos you’ve posted?
  • Chapter Takeaway — Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and try YouTube. It’s arguably the top content platform out there and is where you can build a strong following simply by doing what you love and documenting it. 

Ch. 12: Facebook

  • Facebook Is Still King — Although YouTube is in the conversation, Facebook is still the top dog when it comes to building a personal brand. You and/or your business needs to have a Facebook page. The sheer number of users on the platform make it a juggernaut, and the site just gives you the best chance of reaching the most people. A few of the main reasons Facebook you need a Facebook account:
    • Flexibility — Unlike the other major platforms (each of which dominates a certain type of media, like pictures or video), Facebook is extremely versatile and is a powerful place for video, pictures, and written content. Pictures, videos, blog posts — it all works on Facebook. 
      • Quote (P. 209): “Here’s the reality: if you’re going to build a personal brand and try to monetize it, you have to have a Facebook page. Period.”
      • Quote (P. 210): “There’s no way long written content is getting traction on Snapchat, but on Facebook a thirteen-paragraph blog post will work. You can post pictures, and they’ll work. You can embed a SoundCloud audio play, and it will work. A thirteen-second video will work. So will a thirty-one-minute video. Facebook offers complete and utter creative flexibility and has the greatest ad-targeting product ever created.”
    • Facebook Ads — The Facebook ads platform is one of the greatest ad-targeting system ever created. You can narrow down your exact audience and have your ads directed to them fairly easily. 
      • Quote (P. 210): “Because of its incredibly detailed targeting capabilities — you can specify your audience by their interests, of course, but also by their zip codes or their employers — Facebook is also an incredible place for someone with a small budget.”
      • Quote (P. 216): “Lots of people, because Facebook is the one place where you can spend unbelievably smart advertising dollars. Their targeting is unparalleled. You could spend maybe fifty bucks against twenty-five-to-seventy-two-year-old Facebook users who live in Sacramento and potentially reach about ten thousand people.”

Ch. 13: Instagram

  • Instagram — Having an Instagram is helpful for important for building a personal brand. It’s a place where you can share high-quality photos of your daily grind. It has quickly joined YouTube and Facebook as one of the premier social media platforms available. Instagram Stories acts like Snapchat and allows you to share photos and video clips that disappear after 24 hours.

Ch. 14: Podcasts

  • Podcasts Sell Time — Podcasts have become so popular with people in part because they allow listeners to multitask. You can drive and listen to a podcast, just like you can cook and listen to a podcast. Podcasts are very versatile and flexible, which in some ways gives them a leg up on video content. These days, anyone can start a podcast.

Ch. 15: VoiceFirst

  • Keep Innovating — The companies that end up collapsing usually fail because they became complacent and stopped innovating. Blockbuster is an example. Blockbuster was the premier movie rental destination in America for a long time, but was basically ended by Netflix.
    • Quote (P. 253): “If you don’t play offense all the time, every day, every year, no matter how successful you become, someday you will wind up playing defense.”
  • Eye on the Future — Always keep an eye on the future, and never stop finding ways to innovate and push the boundaries. Keep tabs on the latest technology and social media platforms that are capturing the public’s attention. When you see something that is engaging the public, play around with it. Find ways to use it. The key is to always pay attention to the latest tech trends and what people are interacting with. Go where the attention is. 
    • Quote (P. 254): “You shouldn’t have to turn to me to ask what’s next. What do you see? All I’m doing is looking toward the horizon to see what platforms are capturing people’s attention and altering their behavior. If I see something that is performing consistently, I take a closer look, and then a longer look, and then I start to execute. That’s all you have to do, too.”