Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

This Vook is doing well on the iPhone (it’s #22 in the iPhone Book Apps section despite being $6 – most of the apps above it are just $1).

Here’s a review of the online version.

By the way, his checklist in the ‘plan your future now’ section is genius. Would strongly recommend buying this vook if you aren’t 100% happy with your job.

Context – Gary Vaynerchuk

There are just three things about Gary V. I’m aware of (as of starting the Vook) -

1. He took his $5 million wine business to $60 million. Some part of it was due to social media.
2. He thinks the 4 hr workweek stuff is nonsense.
3. People love him – and he always talks like he’s saying something crucial and he’ll never get a chance to say it again. Passionate or if you are melancholy - painfully happy with life.

The Vook Review

Gary V is ideally suited for a Vook because he can talk and he’s energetic and passionate and seems to really care about someone he can’t see and probably doesn’t know.

He does say some really smart stuff -

1. Main message seems to be -
   

   Do what makes you happy. Keep it Simple. Do the research. Work Hard. Look Ahead.

2. Talks about how people ignore their DNA and who they are to try to cater to their families’ and society’s expectations.
3. He does have it right – There no longer has to be a difference between who you are and what you do. The Internet frees you up.
4. Live your passion (whatever that means).
5. It’s never a bad time to start a business unless you’re starting a mediocre business.
6. He brings up the Tom Peters ‘You are a Brand’ thing.
7. Talks about how he first built up his brand as a wine expert, and then jumped into his real passion i.e. building brands and business.
8. Talks about the gatekeepers no longer having power, and it’s true. Except for the companies dying to be the new gatekeepers.
9. Don’t be scared to have more than one passion.
10. The days of being able to con the customer are pretty much over.
11. Honesty has to be at your core. 
12. Word of mouth has exploded with the Internet. 
13. Everyone already is creating their personal brand – Facebook, MySpace, Twitter.
14. Top journalists should band together.
15. Great Content = Passion + Expertise.
16. Someone with less passion and talent and poorer content can totally beat you if they’re willing to work longer and harder than you.
17. Create a community.
18. Twitter is a micro-consulting platform (From a video user).
19. The best marketing strategy ever: care. The entire chapter is one video and one word.
20. The person hoarding information loses out to the person sharing it freely.
21. A variation of Jack Welch’s Change Before You Have To.
22. Identify emerging trends – which probably is similar to find a niche that is about to explode.
23. Ends with -
    

    If there’s any message I want you to take away, it’s that true success – financial, personal, and professional – lies above all in loving your family, working hard, and living your passion.

Interesting Facts-

1. Working in wine since 16.
2. 1994 – His dad’s store brought in 2-3 million a year.
3. Launched online wine store WineLibrary.com in June 1997.
4. 1998 – Gary V. took revenue from 4 million to 10 million in 1 year (without online revenue).
5. 2001 – 20 million.
6. At 30, Nov 14, 2005 – realized video blogs and Internet are a great way to grow.
7. Launched Wine Library TV in Feb 2006.

It’s really cool that he points out that though it seems like just 16 months between launching the video shows and him being invited to the Conan O’Brien show, it was actually all his work and passion since age 16.

Stuff that he says that doesn’t make sense -

1. He’s a little too enamored with his own success and himself – it’s ok though. You sort of need that to try risky things.  
2. The survivorship bias thing i.e. since I succeeded, everything I did must be right.
3. Gary V has a video about saving the news industry. While he’s right that the middle-men take too much, his building sub-brands strategy is crazy.
4. He says that if you can’t handle the social media aspect you aren’t cut out for this. It’d be more appropriate to say you aren’t cut out to succeed in the exact same manner as Gary V. More than one way to skin a cat.

Stuff that doesn’t work -

1. With all due respect to Lauren Calla, the second video is the most unprofessional, cheapest video ever. It makes ‘cat ran into the wall’ YouTube videos seem Oscar worthy.  
2. The quality of videos again isn’t great. A few are very good – the rest are pretty pedestrian. 

Biggest Takeaways – There are more gems beyond these in the Vook

A few things stood out for me -

Simplify

Make things simple for users – help customers make intelligent decisions themselves, instead of confusing them into buying what you want.

Intersection of abilities and passions

Someone in a video in the Vook says it -

The intersection of what you really enjoy doing and what you are really good at.

Gary V says the same thing.

So do billionaires (Mark Cuban, Felix Dennis, Steve Jobs).

It’s the simplest thing in the world if you think about it – Find what you love to do and can also be one of the best in the world at. Then make sure you are one of the best in the world at it.

It’s interesting that school and university seem to be the exact opposite of this. Our Feudal history coming into play perhaps.

Everyone is obsessed with Advertising

There is So Much focus on advertising its annoying.

Wish people would wake up and forget advertising.

1. Sell people what they come to you for, and not advertising.
2. Sell people what they want and what is good for them – not what is good for you to sell.
3. Become a decision point and a source of intelligence – not a source of misleading people.  

There are millions of people looking to buy whatever you are selling – focus on them and help them make a smart decision. Google succeeds because of short-cuts – not advertisements.

Seeing Reality As It Is

He never comes out and says it outright – However, a lot of what’s he’s talking about is a Jack Welch insight i.e.

• See things as they really are, not as they were or as you want them to be.

Create Great Content

A whole chapter on it.

He thinks the two pillars are product and content. He’s right. Content gets you free marketing, free links, free traffic, free everything.

Great Content = Passion + Expertise.

Overall Review of the Vook

Totally worth the money. The book parts continue to be better than the videos.

The Vook has a place. If you are not sure – read the Gary V. Vook and you will change your mind.

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