The Book in 3 Sentences

1. Following your passion and ruthlessly putting your customers first is a recipe for a successful business.
2. Your business can be as creative, unconventional, unique, and quirky as you want.
3. Never forget why you’re doing what you’re doing so that you don’t fall off track.

Impressions

Anything You Want is a collection of entrepreneur, philosopher and writer Derek Siver’s wisdom and experience from his time running a multi-million dollar company. In this book, Derek chronicles his “accidental” success and failures and lessons he learnt from creating a business by following his passions. I found this book to be a very inspiring and refreshing business read - Derek takes a very holistic approach to business that I felt I really resonated with. The writing is succinct and easy to read and the whole book is published for free on Derek’s site so you have no reason to not read it.

My Top 3 Quotes

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?

Don't be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams.

When you sign up to run a marathon, you don’t want a taxi to take you to the finish line.

Summary, Quotes & Notes

Make every decision — even decisions about whether to expand the business, raise money, or promote someone — according to what’s best for your customers.

When making a decision, its either “hell yes” or “no”.

You don’t need funding to start a business.

Ideas are just a multiplier of execution. They are nothing unless executed upon.

You don’t need to do the formalities/corporate crap.

Design your business in a way that attracts lots of small customers. Less hassle.

Proudly exclude people.

Have the confidence to know that when your target 1 percent hears you excluding the other 99 percent, the people in that 1 percent will come to you because you’ve shown how much you value them.

Don’t run advertising on your website.

There are many ways to do something.

Don’t think you need a huge vision. Just stay focused on helping people today.

Never forget why you’re doing what you’re doing.

How do you grade yourself? For me (Derek), it’s how many useful things I create, whether songs, companies, articles, websites, or anything else.

Care about your customers more than about yourself, and you’ll do well.

If you set up your business like you don’t need the money, people are happier to pay you.

Don’t punish everyone for one person’s mistake.

You should feel pain when you’re unclear.

Little things make all the difference.

Over ten years, it seemed like every time someone raved about how much he loved CD Baby, it was because of a little fun human touch.

It’s okay to be casual.

There’s a benefit to being naive about the norms of the world— deciding from scratch what seems like the right thing to do, instead of just doing what others do.

Always be prepared to double the size of your business.

In the end, its about what you want to be, not what you want to have.

Never promise a customer that you can do something that is beyond your full control.

To be a true business owner, make it so that you could leave for a year, and when you came back, your business would be doing better than when you left.

You can make your role anything you want it to be. Anything you hate to do, someone else loves.

Happiness is the real reason you’re doing anything, right? Even if you say it’s for the money, the money is just a means to happiness, isn’t it? But what if it’s proven that after a certain point, money doesn’t create any happiness at all, but only headaches? You may be much happier as a $1 million business than a $1 billion business.

Make sure you know what makes you happy, and don’t forget it.

Trust, but verify. Remember it when delegating - you have to do both.

Delegate, but don’t abdicate.

You’ll know when its time to sell your business.

The person who has everything is worse off than the person who has enough.

Business is as creative as the fine arts. You can be as unconventional, unique, and quirky as you want.

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