Anything You Want

1. Build a business that makes you happy, not just profitable

When you make a company, you make a utopia. It's where you design your perfect world.

Follow your passion. Creating a business isn't just about making money; it's about crafting a world that aligns with your values and brings you joy. Derek Sivers built CD Baby not because he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but because he wanted to help his musician friends sell their CDs online. This passion-driven approach led to a successful business that he enjoyed running.

Define your own success. Resist the pressure to conform to traditional business models or growth expectations. Sivers often turned down investors and kept CD Baby small intentionally. He prioritized customer satisfaction and his own happiness over rapid expansion. This approach allowed him to maintain control over his company's direction and culture.

• Focus on what makes you happy in business
• Define success on your own terms
• Don't be afraid to go against conventional wisdom

2. Start small and focus on serving your customers

Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what's not working.

Begin with minimal resources. Sivers started CD Baby with just $500 and a simple website. He didn't wait for perfect conditions or significant funding. Instead, he focused on solving a real problem for musicians and continuously improved his service based on customer feedback.

Prioritize customer needs. Rather than trying to impress investors or follow industry norms, Sivers concentrated on making his customers happy. He created policies that favored musicians, such as paying them weekly and never removing their music from the catalog. This customer-centric approach built trust and loyalty, driving organic growth through word-of-mouth recommendations.

• Start with what you have and improve incrementally
• Focus on solving real problems for your customers
• Let customer satisfaction drive your growth

3. Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities

No plan survives first contact with customers.

Accept imperfection. Sivers made numerous mistakes while building CD Baby, from accidentally selling 90% of his company to his father's business to overly empowering his employees. Instead of letting these setbacks discourage him, he used them as valuable learning experiences.

Adapt and improve. When faced with challenges, Sivers consistently chose to adapt and find solutions. For example, when he realized he had lost control of his company's profit-sharing program, he didn't give up. Instead, he refocused on improving the software and finding a way forward.

• View mistakes as opportunities for growth
• Be willing to change course when necessary
• Learn from failures and use them to improve your business

4. Delegate effectively, but maintain oversight

Trust, but verify.

Empower your team. Sivers learned the importance of delegation when he found himself answering employee questions all day. He created a system where employees could make decisions based on the company's philosophy, freeing him to focus on improving the business.

Maintain control. However, Sivers also learned the dangers of over-delegation when his employees set up a profit-sharing program that gave away all the company's profits. This experience taught him the importance of maintaining oversight while delegating responsibilities.

• Teach employees to make decisions aligned with company values
• Create systems that allow for autonomous decision-making
• Regularly verify that delegated tasks are being handled correctly

5. Prioritize customer happiness over rapid growth

It's not that I wanted to get it done and have good vocals. It's that I wanted to be a great singer.

Focus on quality. Sivers consistently chose to prioritize customer satisfaction over rapid growth. He refused to compromise on the quality of his service, even when it meant turning down opportunities for expansion or losing potential profits.

Build lasting relationships. By focusing on making customers happy, Sivers created a loyal customer base that drove organic growth. He implemented policies like personalized email responses and including unexpected gifts with orders, which delighted customers and set CD Baby apart from competitors.

• Prioritize customer satisfaction over rapid expansion
• Implement policies and practices that delight customers
• Build a loyal customer base through exceptional service

6. Create systems that make you unnecessary

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

Document processes. Sivers created a comprehensive manual that documented all of CD Baby's processes and decision-making philosophies. This allowed employees to make decisions without constantly needing his input.

Automate and systematize. By creating systems that could run without his constant involvement, Sivers freed himself to focus on improving the business. This approach allowed CD Baby to grow from $1 million to $20 million in four years while he worked remotely.

• Create detailed documentation of business processes
• Implement systems that allow the business to run without you
• Use automation to reduce the need for constant oversight

7. Know when it's time to move on

No effort spent on anything but my customers.

Recognize diminishing returns. After years of running CD Baby, Sivers realized he had taken the company as far as he wanted to. He no longer felt excited about the projects needed for future growth and recognized it was time for a change.

Exit gracefully. When Sivers decided to sell CD Baby, he did so in a way that ensured his customers and employees would be taken care of. He donated the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education, staying true to his original mission of helping musicians.

• Regularly assess your passion and motivation for your business
• Be willing to let go when you've achieved your goals
• Ensure a smooth transition that benefits your customers and employees

Last updated: August 30, 2024