“Anything you hate to do, someone else loves. So, find that person and let him do it.” The modern world is the age of information. We’re subject to a barrage of noise that’s often hard to interpret, prioritise and remember much of what we’re exposed to day-to-day. In my case, and with no intention I’ll often forget an important lesson that I had wished to apply everyday. With this in mind; I’ve decided to summarise and splurge personally profound passages at the conclusion of each book I’m reading with the intention to check back, absorb and activate it’s effect. I also hope this serves as some form of encouragement for those reading to reach out and take on the literature I’ve most thoroughly enjoyed. Anything You Want – Derek Sivers 2015 You don’t need a visionary master plan, loads of funding or a brilliant team to start a business. All you really need is GENEROSITY. All Chapters “When you make a business, you get to make a little universe where you control all the laws. This is your utopia. When you make it a dream come true for yourself, it’ll be a dream come true for someone else, too.” – Pg 4 “Anytime you think you know what your new business will be doing, remember this quote from serial entrepreneur Steve Blank: “No business plan survives first contact with customers.” – Pg 15 “Never forget that absolutely everything you do is for your customers. Make every decision – even decision about whether to expand the business, raise money, or promote someone – according to what’s best for your customers. If you’re ever unsure what to prioritize, just ask your customers the open-ended question, “How can I best help you now?” Then focus on satisfying those requests. None of your customers will ask you to turn your attention to expanding. They want you to keep your attention focused on them. It’s counterintuitive, but the way to grow your business is to focus entirely on your existing customers. Just thrill them, and they’ll tell everyone.” – Pg 17 “Do you passionately love the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy pages on other websites? Have you even read them? If not, then why would you go putting that garbage on your website?” – Pg 22 “Journalists would ask, “What’s your long-term goal for CD Baby?” I’d say, “I don’t have one, I surpassed my goals long ago. I’m just trying to help musicians with whatever they need today.” So please don’t think you need a huge vision. Just stay focused on helping people today.” – Pg 33 “When someone’s doing something for the money, people can sense it, like they sense a desperate lover. It’s a turnoff. When someone’s doing something for love, being generous instead of stingy, trusting instead of fearful, it triggers this law: We want to give to those who give. It’s another Tao of business: Set up your business like you don’t need the money, and it’ll likely come your way” – Pg 40 “It doesn’t matter how things are done everywhere else. In your little world, you can make it like it should be.” – Pg 47 “If you find even the smallest ways to make people smile, they’ll remember you more for that smile stuff than for all your other fancy business-model stuff.” – Pg 49 “If you needed a big special favour, we’d give you the number of our local pizza delivery place. When we’d tell people about this on the phone, they’d often laugh, not believing we were serious. But we’d get a pizza every few weeks. I’d often hear from musicians later that this was the moment they fell in love with us.” – Pg 50 “Most self-employed people get caught in the delegation trap. You’re so busy, doing everything yourself. You know you need help, but to find and train someone would take more time than you have. So you keep working harder, until you break.” – Pg 68 “This time, instead of just answering the question, I called everyone together for a minute. I repeated the situation and the question. I answered the question, but more important, I explained the thought process and philosophy behind my answer. ‘Yes, refund is money in full. We’ll take a little loss. It’s important always to do whatever would make the customer happiest, as long as it’s not outrageous. A little gesture like this goes a long way toward him telling his friends we’re a great company. Everyone always remember that helping musicians is our first goal, and profit is second. You have my full permission to use that guideline to make these decision yourself in the future. Do what makes the musicians happiest. Make sure everyone who deals with us leaves with a smile.’ I asked around to make sure everyone understood the answer. I asked one person to start a manual, and write down the answer to this situation, along with the philosophy behind it. Then everyone went back to work.” – Pg 69 “Then I realised that there’s such a thing as over-delegation. I had empowered my employees so much that I gave them all the power. After a complete communication breakdown, it was 85 employees against me. I become the scapegoat for all their dissatisfaction. I learned an important word: abdicate. To abdicate means to surrender or relinquish power or responsibility; this world is usually used when a king abdicates the thrown or crown. Lesson learned too late: Delegate, don’t abdicate.” – Pg 77 “I created a charitable trust called the Independent Musicians Charitable Remainder Unitrust. When I die, all of it’s assets will go to music education. But while I’m alive, it pays out 5 percent of it’s value per year to me. A few months before the sale, I transferred all the CD Baby assets into the trust. It was irrevocably gone. it was no longer mine. It all belonged to the charitable trust.” – Pg 81 “I get the deeper … Continue reading Anything You Want by Derek Sivers