I'd heard a lot of good things about "Crush It!" and finally downloaded it (kindle for PC, in case you're curious). I'm fairly new to the world of social media marketing so I was surprised at how much I already knew and how much I was already doing.
After reading Crush It!, I now know (a) social media marketing is not a passing fad, (b) properly implemented, it's an incredibly powerful way to build almost any kind of business, and (c) it's not that complicated. In other words, if you market something on the Internet, or you want to, you need to add social media marketing to your marketing mix and it's a lot easier than you may have thought.
Now, if you're looking for a detailed manifesto on social media marketing, this isn't it. It's a great story and a compelling look at the power of social media marketing and worth it for that alone. Where it really shines, however, is in driving home the importance of finding your passion, your DNA as Vaynerchuk calls it, and building your brand, and your business, around that.
Vaynerchuk makes you think about who you are and what drives you. If you're going to "crush" anything, it's going to have to be something you are passionate about, or you won't do it enough, or well enough, to cut through the noise and clutter that competes for the eyes and ears of your target market. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you aren't going to make it; if you do, the journey will be as rewarding as the destination.
A friend of mine often says, "if you do what you love and you love what you do, you'll never work another day in your life." No doubt Gary Vaynerchuk would agree.
Categories Book Reviews, Internet marketing, Social media marketing by 
Why do some people succeed in network marketing and others don't? Ultimately, it's the amount of one's activity, as I wrote about previously. Differences in belief or philosophies drive different levels of activity which deliver different results. But according to a Stanford University study of human behavior, there's another factor explaining the differences in performance we see in all aspects of life.
The factor, uncovered in the study of four year old children, was simply the ability to delay gratification. The ones who could delay their gratification had better social lives, were more intellectual, better off financially, and were happier than those who couldn't.
The study is discussed in "Don't Eat The Marshmallow Yet!: The Secret to Sweet Success in Work and Life" by Joachim de Posada, Ph.D. and Ellen Singer. Here's the book description at Amazon.com:
"Arthur is a chauffeur who is intellectually gifted. Jonathan is no less bright than Arthur, equally hard-working, and a billionaire. So why is Jonathan in the back seat of the limousine and Arthur in the front? What explains the difference between success and failure? And what does it mean to you and your children?
"Joachim de Posada, a world-renowned motivational speaker, found the answer in a landmark Stanford University study of children who were able to delay gratification-in the form of a marshmallow they'd been given to eat-with the promise that they'd be rewarded with an additional marshmallow if they resisted eating the first for fifteen minutes. Ten years later, the children who held out had grown up to be significantly more successful than those who had eaten their marshmallow immediately.
"Posada saw that the key difference between success and failure is not merely hard work or superior intelligence, but the ability to delay gratification. "Marshmallow resisters" achieve high levels of success while others eat all their marshmallows at once, so to speak-accumulating debt and dissatisfaction despite their occupations or incomes. But it doesn't have to be that way. Using a simple parable and real-life examples (including basketball great Larry Bird and major league baseball catcher Jorge Posada, Joachim's cousin), this life-changing book shows readers how the moves made today can pay off big tomorrow-if they just don't eat the marshmallow…yet!"
Categories Book Reviews, Network marketing/MLM, Personal Development by
My friend Jeff Olson was the the key note speaker at this year's DSA convention, something he has had the honor of doing several times before. He certainly has the credentials. He built some of the largest organizations in network marketing history, rising to the top of several companies on multiple continents. He is also credited with creating more millionaires than anyone in the industry.
Jeff was the CEO of two network marketing companies, one of which he started from scratch. And his book, "The Slight Edge," was an instant classic when it was published a couple of years ago.
The book's premise is that it doesn't take huge effort to create success, it is the little things, done consistently over time. The book isn't specifically about network marketing, but it's principles are a blueprint for our systems-driven business models.
Here is Jeff, in 1995, with a powerful story illustrating how the choices we make moment to moment, day to day, affect us over our lifetime. It is a great representation of "The Slight Edge".
Categories Book Reviews, Personal Development by
