Gary Vaynerchuk Tells It Like It Is
Gary Vaynerchuk tells it like it is when it comes to hard work, or as he calls it hustle. At a client’s request I am reading Vaynerchuk’s book “Crush It.” I’ll admit I was reluctant to even pick it up when I heard about it. My immediate thought was, ‘Oh great, another Internet millionaire who got lucky and now makes millions selling his success as “easy” to vulnerable individuals. Not Vaynerchuk. On page two he lays out his three rules for success, love your family, work super hard and live your passion. What does he mean by work super hard? You’ll need to “work your face off” and “you’ll be bleed out of your eyeballs at your computer.” If you already have a full time job, he advises that “you can get a lot done between 7:00 PP.M. and 2:00 A.M.” He’s not saying you can do this on the weekends or in your spare time. Vaynerchuk may not win any literary awards, but at least he doesn’t sugar coat the amount of effort you’re going to need to put in to reach his level of success.
Before I share a few more of Gary’s invaluable insights let me tell you why I am so enthralled with the message. Over the years I’ve had many clients and potential clients ask me to help the build their websites and help them figure out how to market their blogs, who I knew weren’t’ going to make it. I knew it because they came to me after reading some huckster’s garbage about how to get rich selling ebooks, or creating blogs for Google’s Adsense, or some other get rich easy scheme. I do what I do because helping people has always been my passion. Anytime someone has come to me to help them build a blog or website and I got the sense that they had been drinking the Internet get rich koolaid I’ve flat out told them that there is no easy Internet path to wealth. Usually, I get a sincere thanks, and then asked if I will do the job anyway. Months later some of these individuals come back to me, having written a handful of blog posts and bookmarked their site at a few social bookmarking sites, to ask why their product isn’t selling, or they aren’t getting more visitors.
The second most valuable piece of advice Gary gives, in my opinion, is patience. I would word this a bit difference because I think what he really means is perseverance. In my mind patience is waiting for something to happen while perseverance is taking the time to make something happen. As Vaynerchuk puts it “No one makes a million dollars with little effort unless they win the lottery.” He admonishes readers of his book, “If you contact me within a year of starting your business to complain that you haven’t made the money you thought you would, you’re not listening. I said that you could make a ton of money being happy; I didn’t say you could do it overnight.”
Whether or not you read “Crushing It” if you’re going to use the Internet to make a living or give a significant boost to your business take what Vaynerchuk has to say about hard work and patience aka perseverance to heart.