40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur
Derek Sivers
In Anything You Want, author Derek Sivers recounts his experience and wisdom of growing an idea into a twenty million dollar business. Unlike the all too common lessons taught to aspiring entrepreneurs, Sivers' does not fill the pages with “life hacks” for productivity, instead he paints a realistic picture of the challenges, demands, and success a growing business may bring.
Wake up at 5am, journal night and day, exercise daily, eat a healthy diet, get eight hours of sleep… all examples of rhetoric you won’t find. Instead, you will find statements more similar to: do the right thing, follow your heart, do what makes you happy, and the little things make a big difference.
I really enjoyed sharing in the author’s recount of their entrepreneurial journey. Although Sivers’ recounts some of his struggles and periods when he wanted to quit outright, overall I find his journey to be playful. Overall the book is extremely light hearted, yet provides the reader (at least it did for me), some points of deep reflection when considering my own ventures.
Interestingly, the book reminded me of an entry level small business class I had taken in college. The instructor was himself an entrepreneur and owned a few fast food restaurants. However, he admittedly shared that his primary goal was to discourage as many students as possible from starting their own business. After all, the facts are that very few survive and most end in tremendous loss of both time and money to the owner. Of course, this professor knew his words wouldn’t scare the “real” entrepreneurs within the class, only those without real conviction would be easily swayed. In similar fashion, Derek Sivers challenges the reader on whether a “big” business is what they truly want in life. In essence, Anything You Want is not a sales pitch to follow the author’s path in life, but an invitation to lead your own.
Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently promoting what is not working. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
When you make it a dream come true for yourself, it’ll be a dream come true for someone else, too. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
A business plan should never take more than a few hours (...) A quick glance and common sense should tell you if the numbers will work. The rest are details. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
If you think your life’s purpose needs to hit you like a lighting bolt, you’ll overlook the little day-to-day things that fascinate you. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
When you say no to most things, you leave room in your life to really throw yourself completely into that rare thing that makes you say “HELL YEAH!” Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
Ideas are worth nothing unless executed. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
Have the confidence to know that when your target 1% hears you excluding the other 99%, the people in that 1% will come to you because you’ve shown how much you value them. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
You can’t pretend there’s only one way to do it. Your first idea is just one of many options. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
Don’t think you need a huge vision. Just stay focused on helping people today. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
There’s a benefit to being naive to the norms of the world – deciding from scratch what seems like the right thing to do, instead of just doing what others do. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
It’s about what you want to be, not what you want to have. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
Pay close attention to when you’re being the real you and when you’re trying to impress an invisible jury. Derek Sivers : Anything You Want
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