Book Review: Crush It

Last fall, I was watching KGW Live @ 7 when they sent their business journalist Joe Smith to Powell’s Books to cover an author’s signing of Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk, the guy from Wine Library.



Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur who was able to “[grow] his family wine business from $4 million to $60 million in five years”, and he did most of this by “focusing on the Internet and leveraging social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter." His book gives you a little bit of his history so you can understand how he worked to earn his success.

I first checked the book out from the library, but quickly released I should buy it. It is because of that book that this blog exists today, along with my Twitter account and Facebook page. The timing of that book coming out was perfect for me – I had realized I wanted to make cider, but had not realized the potential of the Internet to help me grow though writing rather than struggle silently on my own.

I then went out and bought two more copies to give to my brother-in-law who was finishing up his graphic design degree, and for my favorite cousin in college for interior design. I think this is a great book for people coming out of college, people looking for a career change, people who want to grow their business, and most importantly, people have a job or hobby they love to talk about. What topic do you talk about that puts a twinkle in your eyes?

Full Throttle Bottle

Behold the power of Facebook.

When I first started researching cider, I found Old Time Cider, which, one way or another, lead me to Full Throttle Bottle on Facebook. Full Throttle Bottle is a specialty beer and wine store located in Seattle, WA. They post quite regularly on Facebook about new shipments coming in, things they are drinking, and brewers coming in for tastings. It is so tempting.

Now, we live in Vancouver, WA, which is right next to Portland, OR. Washington and Oregon have very similar laws when it comes to alcohol. Liquor is sold in state run facilities, and wine and beer are sold in grocery stores. Apparently, they are so much alike that even though we are in Washington, we are most definitely part of Portland’s distribution. This means that what is sold in our local stores is usually from Oregon, especially wine. Meanwhile, Full Throttle Bottle is in Seattle, so it is part of a different distribution market, one that we are not part of. Their posts were talking about stuff that we can’t get here, and it made us envious.

On a recent trip to Seattle, we stopped by Full Throttle Bottle. They had the most cider I had ever seen. Most of it was craft cider from Washington State and a few from France, and almost all of them I couldn’t get at home. They also told me that Red Barn Cider in Mt. Vernon, WA was going to be coming there for a tasting on Wednesday, April 7 between 5pm and 7pm. Sadly, I cannot not go because it is in the middle of the week.

So I recommend that you check out Full Throttle Bottle if you are ever in Seattle for their cider selection. I also have to say that I would have never gone there if it hadn’t been for their Facebook posts.