Ignore Everybody and Crush It!

The "Good" – knowing that there is no such thing as overnight success

Over the holidays I read two good books :  Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk of winelibrarytv.com
fame, and Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh McLeod of
gapingvoid.com fame. 

I’m not going to do a full reviews here, since honestly I’ve
hated book reports ever since 5^th grade.  That said, I recommend both books as they are
quick reads with wisdom on how to turn your unique talent/passion into a
business that provides happiness and hopefully some income.   While chock full of lessons on how build your
personal brand via social media, the key message I took away is an old fashioned
one that is lost on most people today….work hard! 

McLeod’s third chapter is titled “Put the hours in” and
Vaynerchuk devotes a section to “Hustle.” 

Per McLeod:  “Doing
anything worthwhile takes forever. 
Ninety percent of what separates successful people and failed people is
time, effort and stamina.”

Per Vaynerchuk:  “Too
many people don’t want to swallow the pill of working hard every day….if you’re
making money through social media, you don’t get to work for three hours and
then play Nintendo….That’s lip service to hard work.  No one makes a million dollars with minimal
effort unless they win the lottery.”

I know this isn’t exactly a new/original concept, but as a
marketer I see a lot of business/creative people who think they can come up with a great
idea and that is will take off virally via social media.  Overnight success is a myth and I like that
these authors don’t go there just to sell more books (see all the authors of
day-trading and real-estate investing books for that). 

Check out the books for loads of useful marketing strategies/tactics
for harnessing the power of the social web to build your brand.   While
it doesn’t fit into the theme of this post, I absolutely loved Vaynerchuk’s
ninth chapter entitled “the best marketing strategy ever.”  It’s one word long:  CARE!  It’s
so damn simple but so powerful.  I need
to give it more thought and bake it into my 2010 marketing plan for my company,
then I’ll write another post.