Almost everyone has a hobby, and many of us have wondered if it would be possible to make a living out of that hobby. Through personal branding that’s possible. Crushing it is a book about personal branding, how you should approach it and what to expect. Gary vaynerchuk has years of experience of personal branding and business which is why he is able to discuss the topics through his experiences. Not only does the book include Gary’s experiences but it’s also includes people who have read Gary’s previous book “Crush it”. Now they are also telling how they made it.

One of the most important factors in personal branding is storytelling. Whether you are already professional on a certain subject or a novice you are as ready to start. This is due to storytelling. For the sake of storytelling you don’t need to have certain skills in order to educate others. Important point here is to not sell the information as your own if that it’s not the case. Rather you should interview someone with the skills you desire to have and use the material of the interview in your educational content. In storytelling it’s important to be authentic. Being authentic isn’t something you can give advice to, it’s just doing you, whether it’s being nice acting weird or even being provocative. This is also why you shouldn’t lie about your knowledge but rather take your audience on a journey of learning with you.

I have used the word learning and educational but it does not mean that’s the only way to develop a personal brand. There is no right or wrong way to develop a personal brand as long as the content is authentic, interesting and therefore provides value to the audience.

If you are putting out mediocre content you cannot expect more than mediocre results. This is why your content needs to be interesting.

What is interesting content? Interesting content can be educational or entertaining. What’s important is that you seem that you care about the content you put out. That you care about your audience and their opinions. That you care to put in the work in order to create great content.

How to start a personal brand? First step is to start. No matter how familiar are you with writing, talking to a camera or a microphone you need to take the first step. Doesn’t matter if you suck or look like an idiot when you start, everyone does. What matters, is that you constantly practice making great content on the topic of your choosing. And even this practicing should be public. By making it public it does not mean that you will establish a following for your content but you can use the material later on to reflect how far you’ve come. Now that’s great storytelling.

Okay that is how you get started on creating a personal brand. How do you make it profitable? First of all, building a personal brand usually takes years which is why you should be patient with it. Once you have established a following, it’s time to think about making your hobby profitable which can be done in various ways. For one, you can sell products. If you’re making educational content that can be books or audio programs. If you’re making entertaining content it can be apparel based on your content and your brand. Once again there is not a right way to do this your product can be anything that’s your audience will easily link to you. You can make your brand profitable also by getting sponsors, preferably around your topic. Or you can do ad placement. These are just normal ways to turn a personal brand a profitable one. Use your creativity and you can make your own ways.

I think that these are the most important factors when you start. And I don’t see any reason why there would be a reason to look further if you haven’t started yet. Also, I don’t want to take away the book’s authenticity by telling bits and pieces of other people’s hard work. I recommend listening the audio program of the book since it’s narrated by Gary and other people involved in the book making the stories come to life.

Take home notes:

• Decide your topic
• Decide your approach angle (educational etc.)
• Get started
• Be yourself
• Put in the work to deliver great content
• Be consistent
• Grow your following
• Turn your hobby profitable