Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk: Book Summary, Review & Notes
An in-depth summary of Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, with his personal brand playbook, real quotes and how it compares to similar books.
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by Navid Moazzez·Updated Sept 29, 2026·4 min read·Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
This is an in-depth book summary, notes and highlights of Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk. Published in 2009 by HarperStudio, it was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller about building a business around your passion with social media.
Crush It! in 3 sentences
- Crush It! argues that anyone can turn a passion into a business by building a personal brand online.
- Gary Vaynerchuk's formula is to pick your passion, choose a medium, create content constantly and build a community around it.
- Once the brand has an audience, money follows through advertising and other deals, as long as you stay authentic and patient.
Key takeaways
- Love your family, work super hard, live your passion. The book's 3-part definition of success.
- Pick a passion you could talk about every day, then learn everything there is to know about it.
- Choose the medium that suits you: video, audio or the written word.
- Create great content and post it everywhere your audience spends time.
- Build community by answering every comment and joining the conversation on social networks.
- Start small and build gradually, even if your ambitions are huge.
- Monetize once your brand has attention, with advertising and affiliate deals.
- Your personal brand is your résumé now. There no longer has to be a gap between who you are and what you do.
Who should read Crush It!
- People with a day job and a passion they would like to turn into income.
- New creators deciding between video, podcasting and writing.
- Small business owners who have not yet used social media to build a following.
- Anyone who needs a push to start publishing before they feel ready.
- Readers who want a short book. It runs 142 pages.
- Fans of Gary Vaynerchuk who want to read his earliest thinking.
Who might not enjoy it
- Readers looking for current platform tactics. The book dates from 2009, and some tools it names, like Ping.fm and TubeMogul, no longer exist in that form.
- People who want a detailed business plan. It is short, motivational and light on numbers.
Popular quotes from Crush It!
Love your family, work super hard, live your passion.
The formula the book rests on.
Even if your ambitions are huge, start slow, start small, build gradually, build smart.
Patience as part of the plan.
There no longer has to be a difference between who you are and what you do.
Why a personal brand can become a job.
Developing your personal brand is the same thing as living and breathing your résumé.
Your public work is now how people judge you.
Skills are cheap, passion is priceless.
Why he puts passion ahead of credentials.
Building and sustaining community is a never-ending part of doing business.
Community is ongoing work, not a launch task.
With every e-mail and video and blog post and tweet and status update, we add to the real-time documentary of our lives.
Everything you publish adds to your brand.
How Crush It! compares to similar books
Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
The follow-up, with stories of people who built businesses using the Crush It approach. Published in 2018. It updates the advice for newer platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and podcasts.
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
How to tell stories that fit each social platform, giving value before asking for a sale. Published in 2013. It is the tactical sequel, with real examples of posts that worked and posts that did not.
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
Escaping the 9 to 5 through automation, outsourcing and lifestyle design. Published in 2007. Ferriss wants you to work less, while Vaynerchuk asks you to work harder on something you love.
Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon
Share your process online so the right people can find you. Published in 2014 as a short illustrated book. It is gentler and aimed at artists and makers, with no business formula.
Platform by Michael Hyatt
A step-by-step guide to building an online platform, with a blog as the home base and social media around it. Published in 2012. It is more procedural, where Crush It! is more about mindset.
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
Stories of people who built small businesses from a skill or interest with little money. Published in 2012. It covers more business models, while Crush It! focuses on content and personal brands.
About Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk was born in 1975 in Babruysk, then part of the Soviet Union, and moved to New York with his family in 1978. After college he took over his father's liquor store, grew it into Wine Library, a business with $60 million a year in sales, and in 2006 started Wine Library TV, a daily wine show on YouTube that ran to 1,000 episodes.
In 2009 he co-founded the agency VaynerMedia with his brother AJ, and he is chairman of VaynerX. His later books include The Thank You Economy, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, Crushing It! and Twelve and a Half.
FAQs about Crush It!
The questions people most often ask about Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk.
Crush It! is a 2009 book by Gary Vaynerchuk about turning a passion into a business by building a personal brand online. It covers picking a passion, choosing a medium, creating content and building a community. The book was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
Gary Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur and author who grew his family's wine store into Wine Library and hosted Wine Library TV from 2006. He co-founded VaynerMedia with his brother AJ in 2009 and is chairman of VaynerX. Crush It! was his first business book.
It is Vaynerchuk's definition of success. Put family first, outwork everyone on something you care about, and build your working life around that passion so work stops feeling like work.
Pick a passion, become an expert in it and choose a medium that suits you: video, audio or text. Then create content constantly, share it across social networks and answer everyone who engages with you.
By building attention first. Once your personal brand has an audience, Vaynerchuk says you can reach out to advertisers and use affiliate deals and other opportunities that come from a known name.
A daily wine video show Vaynerchuk launched on YouTube in 2006 for his family's store. It ran to 1,000 episodes before he ended it in 2011, and it is the main example he draws on in Crush It!.
The one that fits your personality and your audience. Vaynerchuk says some people shine on video, others on audio or in writing, and authenticity matters more than the format.
The core ideas about passion, content and community still hold. The platform advice is from 2009, and several tools it names are gone, so apply the ideas to the platforms your audience uses now.
Crush It! from 2009 lays out the original idea of building a business on a personal brand. Crushing It! from 2018 revisits it with stories of people who succeeded with the approach and newer platforms.
The hardcover runs 142 pages. It is organized by topic rather than as a strict step-by-step program.
No. Vaynerchuk tells readers to start slow and small and build gradually, even if their ambitions are huge. He argues that consistent content and real engagement grow the audience over time.
Authenticity is what makes the hard work sustainable. If you publish about something you love in your own voice, Vaynerchuk argues, you will keep going long enough for the brand to work.
HarperStudio, an imprint of HarperCollins, published it in 2009. The subtitle is Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion.
Start with Crush It! for the mindset and the case for building a personal brand. Read Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook next for platform-by-platform storytelling tactics.
Navid Moazzez
AI business strategist & AI OS builder
Navid Moazzez helps creators and founders master AI and build their own AI Operating System (AI OS) to automate their business and life.
Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Read the affiliate disclaimer.
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