Book Summary
The premise is simple. Derek Sivers contests that entrepreneurs hold the power to create Anything They Want – they hold the power to define their laws and build their slice of paradise in a utopian world. He then shares 40 lessons he learned over 10 years as he started, built, and sold his venture CD Baby.
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The 40 lessons are rearranged in a way that made it most meaningful for me:
The WHY
Derek focuses a lot on why you’re doing what you’re doing and emphasises on being happy and loving what you do everyday.
– What’s your compass? – Don’t reach your deathbed full of regrets because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams. Know your personal philosophy and what’s worth doing. Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself.
– The real point of doing anything is to be happy, so do only what makes you happy.
– If you think your life’s purpose needs to hit you like a lightning bolt, you’ll overlook the little day-to-day things that fascinate you. Pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you.
– In the end, it’s about what you want to be, not what you want to have.
The HOW
To run your business the right way, Derek has only one mantra – be customer-centric and solve real problems for them. The rest will follow
– Starting small puts 100 percent of your energy into actually solving real problems for real people.. Just ask your customers the open-ended question, “How can I best help you now?”
– A business plan should never take more than a few hours of work—hopefully no more than a few minutes. The best plans start simple. A quick glance and common sense should tell you if the numbers will work. The rest are details. You don’t need a huge vision. Just stay focused on helping people today.
– Design your internal processes to handle twice your existing load, it sends an attractive “come on in, we’ve got plenty of room” message. Even well-meaning companies accidentally get trapped in survival mode. Avoid that by keeping the focus on helping your customer.
Mindset
2 Key Mindsets every entrepreneur must have – 1. Caring about customers more than you care about yourself! 2. Being Happy doing what you’re doing
– Never forget that absolutely everything you do is for your customers.
– Remember why you’re really doing what you’re doing. Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn’t that enough?
– Set up your business like you don’t need the money, and it’ll likely come your way. You can’t prevent bad things from happening. Learn to shrug.
Decision Making
– If you’re not saying, “Hell yeah!” about something, say no.
– How many people’s lives can this influence for the better?
Building a team
– Being self-employed feels like freedom until you realize that if you take time off, your business crumbles.
– Hire the right resources and delegate but keep in mind 2 things:
- Trust, but verify. Remember it when delegating. You have to do both.
- Delegate, but don’t abdicate.
Quotes
Ideas are worth nothing unless they are executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.
Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently promoting what’s not working.
Steve Blank “No business plan survives first contact with customers.”
When you’re onto something great, it won’t feel like revolution. It’ll feel like uncommon sense.