Anything You Want – by Derek Sivers

I really enjoy this author’s writing. He is concise and clever, and he pushes back against conventional wisdom.

A common theme in this book was to “know thyself”. Many business and personal decisions for which the author advocates can only be made by someone who truly knows what makes them happy. The title, Anything You Want, is referring to your business. Your business can be your own little universe where you control all the laws. It’s your utopia.

This book gives 10 years of experience in 1 hour – a quick read with lasting wisdom. 40 lessons, learned by Derek Sivers, founder and creator of CD Baby, are accompanied by short stories. The lessons are relevant to both business and life.

Here is 1 excerpt from the book:

“I miss the mob.”

I was in Las Vegas for a conference, taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel. I asked the driver, “How long have you lived here?”
He said, “Twenty-seven years.”
“Wow! A lot has changed since then, huh?”
“Yeah. I miss the mob.”
“Huh? Really? What do you mean?”
“When the mafia ran this town, it was fun. There were only two numbers that mattered: how much was coming in, and how much was going out. As long as there was more in than out, everyone was happy. But then the whole town was bought up by these damn corporations fun of MBA weasels micromanaging, trying to maximize the profit from every square foot of the floor space. Now the place that used to put ketchup on my hot dog tells me it’ll be an extra twenty-five cents for ketchup! It sucked all the fun out of this town! Yeah, I miss the mob.” (Sure, we could bring up other issues with the mob, but let’s just leave it as a metaphor and a lesson.)
I told this story a lot at CD Baby. Sometimes MBA types would ask me, “What’s your growth rate? What’s your retained earnings rate as a percentage of gross? What are your projections?”
I’d just say, “I have no idea. I don’t even know what some of that means. I started this as a hobby to help my friends, and that’s the only reason it exists. There’s money in the bank and I’m doing fine, so no worries.”
They’d tell me that if I analyzed the business better, I could maximize profitability. Then I’d tell them about the taxi driver in Vegas.
Never forget 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?

The book is filled with little stories like this followed by concise lessons. I read it in an hour, maybe two, and I am a slow reader. I happily recommend this book to anyone who is looking for inspiration or wisdom.