You can follow the beaten path and call yourself an entrepreneur or you can blaze your own trail and really be one. When Derek Sivers started CD Baby, he wasn’t planning on building a major business. He was a successful independent musician who just wanted to sell his CDs online. When no one would help him do it, he set out on his own and built an online store from scratch. He started in 1998 by helping his friends sell their CDs. In 2000, he hired his first employee. Eight years later, he sold CD Baby for $22 million. Sivers didn’t need a business plan, and neither do you. You don’t need to think big; in fact, it’s better if you don’t. Start with what you have, care about your customers more than yourself, and run your business like you don’t need the money.

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

Business & Money

Sivers, Derek

Business Culture

Portfolio

Your Music and People: creative and considerate fame

Marketing & Sales

Hit Media

Useful wisdom. Simple profound mental models to guide your decisions. 
Overwhelmed? If you feel anything less than “hell yeah!” about something, say no. We say yes too often. By saying no to almost everything, you leave space and time in your life to throw yourself completely into the few things that matter most. 
After Derek Sivers’ “hell yeah or no” rule was adopted by podcasters, bloggers, and investors, he compiled related ideas into this useful, profound, and surprising book around the themes of what’s worth doing, fixing faulty thinking, and making things happen. Examples: Be proud to be a slow thinker. Goals shape the present, not future. Assume you’re below average. Life has no speed limit. What’s obvious to you is amazing to others. Relax for the same result. 
The first 15,000 early buyers of ‘Hell Yeah or No’ have posted hundreds of 5-star reviews at sive.rs/n — but it is now being released to a wider audience.

Hell Yeah or No: what’s worth doing

Self-Help

Personal Transformation

Every creator has the same problems with marketing.\nHow do you call attention to your work? How do you get your creations into people's minds and hearts? How do you get fans to tell their friends? How do you charge money for your labor of love? How do you get the media to help?\nDerek Sivers was a professional musician before he started a music distribution company that helped 150,000 musicians sell their music to over four million people. So after years of living the problems, he was able to learn the solutions.\n"Your Music and People" shares a successful philosophy of getting your work to the world by being creative, considerate, resourceful, and connected.\nIt's not just for musicians. 
Though it uses music as the example, it is meant for any creator trying to reach people. Early readers called it one of the best books ever written on business marketing.\nExample points include: Business is just as creative as music. Marketing is an extension of your art. Marketing means being considerate. Focus on others. Being weird is considerate. People skills are counterintuitive. To be helped, be helpful. Persistence is polite. Call the destination and ask for directions. Get specific about what you want. Be extreme and sharply defined. Proudly exclude most people. Money is just a neutral representation of value. Be valuable to others - not just yourself. People like to pay. Nobody knows the future, so focus on what doesn't change.\nThe first 10,000 early buyers of "Your Music and People" have posted hundreds of 5-star reviews at sive.rs/m - but it is now being released to a wider audience.

Useful wisdom. Simple profound mental models to guide your decisions.\nOverwhelmed? If you feel anything less than "hell yeah!" about something, say no. We say yes too often. By saying no to almost everything, you leave space and time in your life to throw yourself completely into the few things that matter most.\nAfter Derek Sivers' "hell yeah or no" rule was adopted by podcasters, bloggers, and investors, he compiled related ideas into this useful, profound, and surprising book around the themes of what's worth doing, fixing faulty thinking, and making things happen.\nExamples: Be proud to be a slow thinker. Goals shape the present, not future. Assume you're below average. Life has no speed limit. What's obvious to you is amazing to others. Relax for the same result.\nThe first 15,000 early buyers of 'Hell Yeah or No' have posted hundreds of 5-star reviews at sive.rs/n - but it is now being released to a wider audience.

Hell Yeah or No: what's worth doing

Motivational

Sivers Limited

Many books believe they know how you should live. But each book disagrees with the next.\nIn “How to Live”, each chapter believes it knows how you should live. And each chapter disagrees with the next. 
One chapter makes a compelling argument for why you should be completely independent, keeping all options open. The next chapter argues why you should commit to one career, one place, and one person. 
One chapter persuades you to be fully present, and experience each moment. The next, to delay gratification and invest for the future. 
Which one is right? Which does the author believe? All of them. It's a philosophy of conflicting philosophies. 
A very unique and thought-provoking book.Meant for reflection as much as instruction. 
113 incredibly succinct pages of profound insights. No philosophers are quoted. No -isms are named. Only actionable directives. The end result feels more like poetry than prose. 
The first 20,000 early buyers of “How to Live” have posted hundreds of 5-star reviews at sive.rs/h — but it is now being released to a wider audience.

How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

Not quite non-fiction, not quite self-help. It's a work of art about conflicting philosophies.\nMany books believe they know how you should live. But each book disagrees with the next. In "How to Live", each chapter believes it knows how you should live. And each chapter disagrees with the next.\nOne chapter makes a compelling argument for why you should be completely independent, keeping all options open. The next chapter argues why you should commit to one career, one place, and one person.\nOne chapter persuades you to be fully present, and experience each moment. The next, to delay gratification and invest for the future.\nWhich one is right? Which does the author believe? All of them. It's a philosophy of conflicting philosophies.\nA very unique and thought-provoking book. Meant for reflection as much as instruction.\n113 incredibly succinct pages of profound insights. No philosophers are quoted. No -isms are named. Only actionable directives. The end result feels more like poetry than prose.

Happiness

You started a business. But why? 
Entrepreneurs often lose sight of what matters. Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn't that enough? 
Derek Sivers accidentally started a business by helping musicians sell their music. It became the largest online seller of independent music with over 150,000 musicians and $100M in sales. After ten years, he sold the company for $22 million and gave all the money to charity. 
In “Anything You Want” he shares 40 powerful lessons, in a book you can read in about an hour. Points include: When you make a company, you make your utopia — your perfect world. Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself. Starting with no money is an advantage. You don’t need money to start helping people. Your business plan is moot. You don’t know what people really want until you launch. Don’t pursue business just for your own gain. Only answer the calls for help. By focusing entirely on thrilling your customers - even at an occasional loss - you ultimately profit more, because of the loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing that comes only when you place your customer’s needs over your own. 
The book’s most memorable stories are from his horrible mistakes, like why saving ten minutes cost him $3.3 million dollars, and how he was attacked by Steve Jobs. 
“Anything You Want” was first published by Seth Godin in 2011, then by Penguin/Portfolio in 2015. This third edition for 2022 was improved with eight new chapters. 
Its surprisingly humanist approach to business, focusing on generosity and happiness more than profits, has helped thousands of entrepreneurs to re-focus on what matters and find their own path to success.

Anything You Want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur

Business Development & Entrepreneurship

You started a business. But why?\nEntrepreneurs often lose sight of what matters. Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn't that enough?\nDerek Sivers accidentally started a business by helping musicians sell their music. It became the largest online seller of independent music with over 150,000 musicians and $100M in sales. After ten years, he sold the company for $22 million and gave all the money to charity.\nIn "Anything You Want" he shares 40 powerful lessons, in a book you can read in about an hour. Points include: When you make a company, you make your utopia - your perfect world. Business is not about money. It's about making dreams come true for others and for yourself. Starting with no money is an advantage. You don't need money to start helping people. Your business plan is moot. You don't know what people really want until you launch. Don't pursue business just for your own gain. Only answer the calls for help. By focusing entirely on thrilling your customers - even at an occasional loss - you ultimately profit more, because of the loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing that comes only when you place your customer's needs over your own.\nThe book's most memorable stories are from his horrible mistakes, like why saving ten minutes cost him $3.3 million dollars, and how he was attacked by Steve Jobs.\n"Anything You Want" was first published by Seth Godin in 2011, then by Penguin/Portfolio in 2015. This third edition for 2022 was improved with eight new chapters.\nIts surprisingly humanist approach to business, focusing on generosity and happiness more than profits, has helped thousands of entrepreneurs to re-focus on what matters and find their own path to success.

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons For A New Kind Of Entrepreneur

Derek Sivers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sivers, Derek. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sivers, Derek

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sivers, Derek. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

Your Music and People: creative and considerate fame

Hell Yeah or No: what’s worth doing

Your Music and People: creative and considerate fame

Hell Yeah or No: what's worth doing

How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

Anything You Want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur

Anything You Want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons For A New Kind Of Entrepreneur