Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

I just read this book in one sitting.  It took about three hours, and now I’m going to…

CRUSH IT!!!!111

Single most inspirational book in terms of having a successful online presence.  Ever.  This book applies to everyone as we work our way into the 21st century.  It applies to all of us, as we continue to discover how the Internet continues to change the world.  It’s particularly pertinent if you have any interest in maintaining an online presence, or are actively involved in running your own business.  This book can guide your way to reaching not only more people – but more people that actually care about you and your product, and that’s great ROI.

After reading this book I literally revamped my entire blog, and took a completely new approach to finding readers.  It actually came down to one basic concept – be true to yourself.  Write about what you’re passionate about.  Care about your readers and the community.  Flex social networking as an advertising tool.  Don’t be fake, and don’t BS.

I’m also actively working through applying concepts in The 4-Hour Workweek (Expanded and Updated) which in a way provides a polar opposite view.  Crush It tells you to work longer and harder than ever before, but it tells you to work on what you love.  The 4-Hour Workweek tells you to work less, but work on something you don’t love – for the purpose of freeing up your time to do that which you love.  Crush It tells you to be extremely in-tune with social networks, and that every single person is important and should be treated as such.  The 4-Hour Workweek tells you to disconnect from the network, drop social networks in general, and cater yourself only to the customers that result in the highest return, for the minimum effort.

Sounds like quite the conflict, no?  In truth, I think the books compliment each other magnificently.  The underlying message of using your internal drive to follow your dreams and accomplish great things is the foundation for both books.  The 4-Hour Workweek can tell you how to start a business to support you, and give you the time to follow your dreams, and Crush It will show you how to make money by following your dreams.  Dreams that you now can follow because you took to heart the things in The 4-Hour Workweek.  Awesome!

It’s like – could two things go hand-in-hand better?  Peas and Carrots?  Horses and Carriages?

;-)

Cheers!

-Martin