"Crush It!" Meeting Gary Vaynerchuk in Indigo Books, Montreal

Dropping a line from Montreal, Canada - I hope you're all doing well! 

I had, by sheer coincidence, met Gary Vaynerchuk - author of "Crush It!" a few days ago in Montreal. He was giving a talk on the launch of his book "Crush It!" at Indigo Books. Fantastic talk (you can watch a similar presentation on http://fora.tv/2009/10/23/CRUSH_IT_Gary_Vaynerchuk), fantastic book, great points that never hurts us to remind ourselves of:

• "How badly do you want to crush it? Are you willing to hustle, hustle, hustle to get what you want?"
• "It's never a bad time to start a business unless you're starting a mediocre business. I think economic downturns represent a huge opportunity for everyone to get their focus on and start to crush it"
• "The person who can dominate during rough times is the person who can dominate, period."
• "... I'm of the opinion hardship shapes us. Coming from nothing served my family well. It also gave me the hunger to want it all, and the wisdom to know that none of it matters"

Working my way through the short, but long, 150 pages of the book. My initial thoughts are this:

I think every day is a conscious decision to get better or do worse. It's also a conscious decision we make - whether we work hard, hustle, and create a life where every day is a 'Friday'. Where tomorrow is always going to be a better day. Or we make a conscious decision to watch a Gossip Girl marathon (I don't personally watch Gossip Girl) and pull the cover over our heads, say it's too hard, and settle for the once-a-week-highlight which is 'Friday'. For the 4 months a year annual leave. Mediocrity or greatness?

Either decision is ok, it's the decision you make that's right for you. Do you choose to get by, or do you want more? A lot of people get by, it's not difficult to "get by" (I think the modern standard is $40K per annum). But if someone said: "here's one life, here's one chance, make what you will of it", to me - it's just too sad to just "get by". I want more - I want more for the people I love, and the people I'd love to help. And I want more for you. I'm hungry.

I don't personally believe that the money's important, in fact, it's just paper and ink. But I believe the monetary incentive is - what it can do for you and the people around you is important. I've never known a beggar to donate to charity. 

A lot of you already know this: in this day and age, we are so lucky to be in the right place, and the right time, with the right people, and the right vehicle. The gift of success is there for all of us to receive - the question is whether we have the courage to open our hands and receive it. Courage to look forward, not backwards, and not wondering whether external forces will make things work, but how we ourselves can make things work. How we can re-invent ourselves. The only free-bee is an opportunity, which could be the most expensive thing when missed. So "hustle, hustle, hustle". 

Let me know your thoughts, I would love to hear them. 

Miss you all, and can't wait to see you back in Sydney. Thank you GaryVee.

Love & Peace,

Andy