????2006年，自稱是小商販的加里?沃伊涅爾查克決定，是時(shí)候嘗試新東西了。過去10年中，沃伊涅爾查克已經(jīng)把他父親的酒鋪擴(kuò)大成了一家名叫“葡萄酒圖書館”(Wine Library)的成功酒企。然而，對(duì)于這位雄心勃勃的年輕人來說，這僅僅是個(gè)開始。他一直很善于發(fā)現(xiàn)潮流所向，能夠感覺到客戶作出購買決策的方式正在發(fā)生切實(shí)的轉(zhuǎn)變。他打算利用這種變化賺一筆。

????沃伊涅爾查克架設(shè)了一個(gè)攝像頭，讓一位同事拍攝他聊葡萄酒的畫面。他的評(píng)論直截了當(dāng)，尖銳犀利，風(fēng)趣幽默，最重要的是，信息量非常大。但不知疲倦的工作態(tài)度才是他真正與眾不同的地方。他每周有5天會(huì)都發(fā)布一段全新的“視頻博客”（他把它戲稱為“葡萄酒圖書館電視”），而且一有空就發(fā)微博，堅(jiān)持不懈地為視頻內(nèi)容提供支持，一直到凌晨三點(diǎn)，甚至更晚。

????沃伊涅爾查克的方法得到了回報(bào)。不僅葡萄酒銷售生意增長(zhǎng)到了空前的高度，他本人也成了一位暢銷書作家，代表作包括《粉碎它！》(Crush It!)和《右鉤拳》( Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook)。此外，他頻頻登上頂級(jí)商業(yè)雜志的封面，而且還經(jīng)常受邀在大批企業(yè)家和高管面前發(fā)表演講。他的擁躉甚至開始以“沃伊腦殘粉”自稱。

????加里?沃伊涅爾查克崛起為網(wǎng)絡(luò)明星、同時(shí)在現(xiàn)實(shí)世界贏得萬貫身家的經(jīng)歷代表了當(dāng)今工商界的一個(gè)強(qiáng)大趨勢(shì)。這種理念已經(jīng)被無數(shù)文章和商業(yè)書籍探討過，它就是：在數(shù)字時(shí)代收獲成功的唯一途徑是，不遺余力地推廣你的“個(gè)人品牌”，特別是通過社交媒體。

????這個(gè)進(jìn)程的強(qiáng)度可能令人膽寒。正因?yàn)槿绱?，一個(gè)致力于提供勵(lì)志商業(yè)建議的作坊式產(chǎn)業(yè)已經(jīng)在網(wǎng)上破土而出，它充滿了集自助和嚴(yán)厲之愛于一身的格言警句。事實(shí)上，還是沃伊涅爾查說得最清楚不過。他在接受社交媒體博客Mashable采訪時(shí)盯著攝像頭，帶著他特有的自信，言之鑿鑿地說：“如果我比你更成功，那只有一個(gè)原因——因?yàn)槲冶饶愎ぷ鞯酶?。”他所說的工作指的是，花費(fèi)大量時(shí)間為他的網(wǎng)絡(luò)形象打造粉絲群。

????這是一種極具吸引力、非常直觀的成功秘訣，非常符合美國(guó)人秉持的一項(xiàng)基本理念：如果你比其他人更加持久、更加努力地拼搏，你所有的夢(mèng)想都可以變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實(shí)。這里只有一個(gè)問題——對(duì)于許多人來說，這樣做根本行不通。

????“自我品牌營(yíng)銷”不斷飆升的人氣僅僅是大衛(wèi)?茲威格的新書《隱形：在自我推銷時(shí)代中匿名工作的力量》(Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion)探討的主題之一。這部定于本月末發(fā)行的著作被沃頓商學(xué)院(Wharton)教授、暢銷書作家亞當(dāng)?格蘭特譽(yù)為2014年最值得期待的商業(yè)書籍。茲威格試圖挑戰(zhàn)一個(gè)普遍認(rèn)同的觀點(diǎn)：花費(fèi)最多時(shí)間爭(zhēng)奪其他人眼球的那個(gè)人終將獲勝。為了達(dá)到這個(gè)目的，他深入剖析了一些正處于各自職業(yè)生涯頂峰，同時(shí)主動(dòng)避開聚光燈的成功人士。

????這本著作審視的成功人士包括一位全球頂級(jí)香水開發(fā)商，全球最大建筑物的結(jié)構(gòu)工程師，以及發(fā)行過多張白金唱片的搖滾樂隊(duì)電臺(tái)司令(Radiohead)的吉他手。在《隱形》一書中，所有大獲成功（而且收入不菲）的大師級(jí)人物都在長(zhǎng)時(shí)間工作，其中一些人的工作時(shí)間跟自我營(yíng)銷的精神領(lǐng)袖所指示的時(shí)間一樣長(zhǎng)，甚至還要更長(zhǎng)。但他們并沒有利用這些時(shí)間叫賣，而是全身心地工作，打磨自己的技藝。

????茨威格并不是要說，營(yíng)銷是邪惡的，也不是要論證營(yíng)銷是無用的?！拔也⒉皇钦f某些類型的專業(yè)人才不需要自我推銷，”他寫道?！昂芏嗳硕夹枰?。”

????不可否認(rèn)，以加里?沃伊涅爾查克為代表的自我推銷一族往往工作到凌晨時(shí)分，為自己和自己的品牌贏得了關(guān)注，最終建立起了自己的商業(yè)帝國(guó)。在如今這個(gè)時(shí)代，上網(wǎng)搜索已經(jīng)成為幾乎每一項(xiàng)購買決策的第一步，那些沒有在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上安營(yíng)扎寨的人往往要面臨一段坎坷的前程——無論他們的產(chǎn)品工藝多么精良。茲威格最重要的觀點(diǎn)很簡(jiǎn)單：如果一種文化青睞的是不計(jì)代價(jià)、24小時(shí)全天候的吆喝叫賣，那么它能推動(dòng)多少企業(yè)，就一樣也能拖累多少企業(yè)。

????因此，問題仍然是：如果你經(jīng)營(yíng)的那門生意需要你直至凌晨三點(diǎn)還在釀酒，而不是叫賣其他人已經(jīng)做好的酒，你怎么去競(jìng)爭(zhēng)？

????In 2006, self-proclaimed hustler Gary Vaynerchuk decided it was time to try something new. Over the previous 10 years, Vaynerchuk had expanded his father’s liquor store into a successful wine business called Wine Library. However, for the ambitious young man, this was only the beginning. He had always had a nose for trends, and he could sense a real shift in how customers were making buying decisions. He wanted to capitalize on it.

????Vaynerchuk set up a camera and had a colleague shoot him talking about wine. He was direct, brash, funny, and above all, informative. But what really set him apart was his sheer work ethic. He posted a new episode of his “video blog,” which he dubbed Wine Library TV, five days a week and relentlessly supported the content by tweeting in every spare moment, until three in the morning and beyond.

????Vaynerchuk’s methods paid off. Not only did his wine selling business grow to unparalleled heights, he became a bestselling author with books like Crush It!and Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook. He was featured on the covers of top business magazines and received invitations to speak in front of massive audiences of entrepreneurs and executives. His fans even began calling themselves Vayniacs.

????Gary Vaynerchuk’s ascent to online stardom and real world riches typifies a powerful trend in business today. The idea, written about in countless articles and business books, is that the only way to make it in the digital age is to relentlessly promote your “personal brand,” especially though social media.

????The intensity of this process can be daunting. As such, a cottage industry of inspirational business advice has sprouted online, full of aphorisms that combine self-help and tough love. In fact, Vaynerchuk put it best during an interview on Mashable, where he looked into the camera and stated with his characteristic confidence, “If I’m more successful than you, there’s one reason for it—it’s because I outworked you.” And by work, he means spending a huge number of hours building fans of his Internet persona.

????It is a recipe for success that is attractive, intuitive, and appealing to our fundamentally American belief if you hustle long and hard enough to get yourself in front of people, you can make all your dreams come true. There’s only one problem—for many of us, it doesn’t work.

????The soaring popularity of “self branding” is just one of the topics addressed in David Zweig’s new bookInvisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion (Portfolio/Penguin), which is slated for release later this month. Named as a Top Business Book to Read in 2014 by Adam Grant, a Wharton professor and bestselling author in his own right, Zweig challenges the pervasive notion that the people who spend the most time getting others to pay attention to them win. He accomplishes this by conducting in-depth profiles of individuals who are at the zenith of professional success in their fields and who actively shun the spotlight.

????Some of those Zweig examines in his book include one of the world’s leading perfume developers, the structural engineer of the largest building on earth, and the guitar technician for the multiplatinum rock band Radiohead. All of the highly successful (and well-paid) masters featured in Invisibles work long hours, in some cases as long or even longer than what the self-branding Maharishis prescribe. But instead of spending these hours on promotional hustle, they dedicate time to working on and refining their actual craft.

????Zweig’s argument is not that marketing is evil or useless. “I’m not suggesting that some types of professionals don’t need to self-promote,” he writes, “Many of us do.”

????There’s no denying that people like Gary Vaynerchuk have built empires by working into the wee hours of the morning to draw attention to themselves and their brands. In an age where doing an Internet search is the first step in virtually every buying decision, those who don’t maintain an online presence have a tough road ahead of them—no matter how well-crafted their work. The author’s overriding point is simply that a culture that favors around-the-clock hustle at the expense of all else holds back as many businesses as it helps.

????So the question remains: How do you compete if your particular business requires you to be up until three in the morning making wine instead of selling the wine that someone else has made?