Self-branding success is unsustainable for most and structurally excludes marginalized workers

Evidence

In reality, even if Garyvee’s methods do generate wealth for some people, they are unsustainable for most. Vaynerchuk doesn’t mention that “crushing it” requires, at minimum, a white-collar job and technical skills. Gary himself has unusual charisma and entrepreneurial spirit, and a multi-million dollar family business to fall back on. Crush It!‘s methods systematically exclude women (who are the majority of caregivers), single parents, people with disabilities, and a whole host of others from “succeeding” using these tactics. (Does this mean they are just lazy?) Gary’s extraordinary success has yet to be replicated by the legion of followers attempting to “Crush It” through homemade videos about accounting and real estate, most of which imitate Vaynerchuk’s brash spirit. Gary’s followers seem mostly to work in technology and marketing; it’s apparently harder to “monetize” a passion for secretarial work, social justice, or community gardening than a passion for wine, entrepreneurship, or real estate. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 444

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to labor-sociology critiques of gig economy rhetoric and to the ‘fauxtrepreneur’ discourse; parallels ‘Brotopia’ but on the creator side. — connects to: Public self-promotion is now required for employment across many occupations — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 406; Self-branding success depends on privileged white-collar positions unavailable to most workers. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 419; Self-branding shifts economic risk onto workers while demanding constant unpaid labor — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 524 (+4 more)
• SHARE: The point that some passions (wine, real estate) monetize while others (secretarial work, community gardening) don’t is a sharp, shareable insight for a labor-economics friend.

Broader Connections

• Self-branding success remains exceptional and gated by networks of power #corroborates (0.90) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 719
• Self-branding’s demand for total presence becomes sadistic control #expands (0.82) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 96