In his bestselling book Crushing It!, serial entrepreneur and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk outlines his formula for turning passions into thriving businesses. More than just a “how-to” guide, Crushing It provides foundational mindsets to help anyone operate with an empowered, achievement-driven owner mentality, whether starting a new venture or advancing in a career. For Vaynerchuk, or “Gary Vee”, adopting an entrepreneurial spirit is far more about mindset than specific tactics. This review summarises key insights from Crushing It that apply both in business and in one’s personal operating system.
Embracing Gary Vee’s Career Superpower Mindsets
Crushing It emphasises mindset shifts over skills to unlock potential and drive success in the digital age. Mastering a few core mental models can help develop an owner’s mentality.
Jet Fuel Mindset: Passion and Hustle
Gary Vee attributes his success to his “JetFuel,” composed of passion, drive, boldness, and a work ethic. Loving what you do provides intrinsic motivation, while hustle and grit enable execution. He advises spending time discovering one’s interests, then pursuing them with tireless drive. This jet fuel fuels the behaviours needed to attain goals.
Developing a Compass: Insights Before Tools
Rather than blindly copying others’ tactics, Gary Vee stresses understanding the psychology behind tools and trends. Gaining context-specific insights about customers, business models, and markets is more valuable than specific tactics. With deep understanding, you can intelligently adapt tools to your conditions.
Speed over perfection
Crushing It emphasises speed and iteration in launching projects, products, or campaigns over obsessing over perfection. Testing rough drafts quickly enables feedback to refine subsequent versions. Perfect comes after the first version is out. Accept failures, learn, and move forward faster.
Own Your Abilities: Be Your Own Brand
Rather than seeking external validation, Gary Vee pushes for developing self-belief to support your own talents and potential. Build skills and a body of work leveraging your strengths so you don’t have to rely on others’ approval. Bet on yourself.
Long-Term Commitment Over Shortcuts
Achieving lasting success requires dedication over years, not overnight luck, per Gary Vee. Make big bets on yourself by putting in the time to incrementally build expertise, networks, and reputations. Stay resilient through the ups and downs. Play long games.
Relentless Solution Mindset
When challenges inevitably arise, cultivate a mindset of relentlessly brainstorming solutions rather than dwelling on problems, according to Gary Vee. Draw on your passions, insights, and skills to innovatively overcome obstacles on the path to your goals.
Crushing its Principles to Operate as a Business Owner
Beyond mindsets, Crushing It provides business-building principles applicable to entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and digital creators.
Develop future-proof skills and assets.
Gary Vee focuses on cultivating evergreen, transferable skills like storytelling, work ethic, and judgement vs. platform-dependent skills. Build assets you own, like your personal brand, content, and audience, vs. renting temporary social media followings. Invest in your capabilities to thrive for the long haul.
Create content to provide value.
Share genuinely useful, engaging content instead of spammy sales pitches. Build authority by teaching valuable insights to attract your ideal audience. Help others, and the customers will come.
Obsess over serving your niche
Rather than chasing mainstream appeal, passionately serve the needs of a well-defined niche audience. Tailor your products and content to excite a dedicated core following vs. pleasing the broad general public.
Leverage digital channels and emerging platforms.
Vaynerchuk began by building his family wine business’ early e-commerce presence. He stresses continually exploring new technologies and platforms while they are still emerging to ride momentum rather than jump on trends too late.
Direct Access to Consumers
Digital channels provide direct access to customers. Build your own site, social media, and email lists to control relationships instead of relying on intermediaries. Own the full user journey.
Sweat the Details: Manage What Matters
Pay attention to key details that impact the customer experience and business fundamentals. For wine sales, Gary Vee focused on improved shipping methods, personalised customer interactions, and inventory management to fuel growth.
Promote without interrupting
Create value-added ads and branded content that engages rather than interrupts target audiences. Help people before pitching them. Vaynerchuk leveraged early YouTube to build awareness by entertaining rather than interrupting.
Harness the Hustle Muscle
Outhustling others differentiates successful entrepreneurs, per Gary Vee. Be willing to do the hard work yourself when starting out, rather than outsourcing prematurely. Roll up your sleeves.
Surround yourself with supporters.
It is easy to be discouraged by naysayers. Build a team of personal and professional supporters who push you, believe in your vision, and hold you accountable. Energy is contagious.
Mindset Shifts to Win in Life Like an Entrepreneur
Crushing Its principles around passion, self-belief, solution-focus, and long-term grit apply equally in one’s personal life.
Live life on your terms.
Rather than accepting the default path, have the courage to live life on your own terms, guided by your interests and values. Design your lifestyle intentionally.
Develop personal runways.
Nurture interests outside of your formal career to build skills and community. Explore new directions without absolute commitments as “personal runways”.
Filter Opinions You Seek
Gary Vee is very selective in whose opinions he takes to heart. Curate your circle of trusted advisors carefully, rather than letting naysayers drain your belief.
Set ambitious goals.
Stretch your abilities by setting ambitious life goals. Break them into manageable chunks. Use lofty goals as North Stars to expand your limits.
Embrace discomfort and risks.
Have the courage to get comfortable with discomfort. View failures and setbacks as learning opportunities to develop grit. Take calculated risks.
Invest energy in what matters.
Focus time on priorities that align with your purpose rather than default routines. Be rigorous in how you spend your mental energy.
Create accountability processes.
Set up structures that enable you to regularly track progress towards your personal goals, like quarterly reviews or accountability partner check-ins.
Develop high-performance routines.
Like top athletes, optimise daily routines for peak performance. Systematise habits that keep you grounded and progressing.
Appreciate the Long Game of Compounding
Have patience to put in long, dedicated efforts. Understand that consistent small improvements compound into big results over years.
Conclusion
Crushing It provides both inspiration and practical frameworks to thrive in business and life. While Vaynerchuk’s high-energy delivery style isn’t for everyone, his emphasis on mindset combined with tactical building blocks is universally applicable. By taking ownership of your abilities, pursuits, and mindset, you can write your own rules and create the outcomes you desire rather than playing a scripted part. Gary Vee’s advice to bet on your own potential and boldly follow your passions can empower anyone to live life to the fullest.