Book SummaryAnything You Want, by Derek Sivers

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Anything You Want

In Anything You Want, CD Baby founder Derek Sivers shares 40 lessons he learned from being an accidental entrepreneur whose hobby turned into a $22 million business. Sivers’s non-traditional approach to business ownership—centering on honesty, creativity, and humanity—is a model for burgeoning entrepreneurs who want to stay true to themselves and do right by others while building their dream.

A professional musician, Sivers founded CD Baby in 1998 to sell his CDs online when major music companies wouldn’t. What...

Anything You Want Summary Part 1: Know What You _Love _to Know What You _Want _

Sivers argues that to run a successful business you have to know yourself, what you love, and what you want in life. He asserts that the point of owning your own business and pursuing your dreams is to make you happy, so your passions should always be your guiding light and the benchmark against which you measure yourself.

Your role matters: Sivers says that as the owner of your own business, you can make your role anything you want, so you should pay attention to which tasks make you happy and only do the ones you love, which will fuel you. Therefore, he recommends delegating parts of your work that you don’t like because doing things you don’t feel passionate about will drain you.

(Shortform note: In addition to enjoying your business and keeping the passion alive, understanding yourself and your priorities as a company head also builds confidence, makes you a more effective leader and decision-maker, and maximizes your performance.)

Size also matters: Sivers warns against growing your business bigger than you truly want it to be, even if your company is successful. This is because...

Anything You Want Summary Part 2: Develop Your Business Plan

In the previous section, we discussed the importance of identifying and pursuing the things you love. Now, we’ll discuss Sivers’s suggestions for developing a business plan that can help you put your passions into action.

First, Get Going

Sivers says that great ideas are meaningless if you don’t do something with them and that the best thing you can do to make them a reality is just get started. It’s okay if you don’t have a clear plan or vision: Sivers had neither when he started CD Baby—he just had a desire to address an unmet need.

Sivers says the most important thing is to not get hung up on everything that could prevent you from pursuing your dream, like a lack of money or fear of something going wrong. Don’t worry about developing the perfect business plan with terms and conditions and legal projections for scenarios that may never unfold. Just keep it simple, don’t overthink, and get started—because taking small steps toward your goal is always better than doing nothing.

Plan Early and Often

Sivers discusses the importance of getting your business started right away so you can put your ideas into action, recommending that you keep things simple...

Anything You Want Summary Part 3: Share the Power

You’ve learned how to get your business going, so now we’ll examine Sivers’s recommendations for managing employees in a way that keeps them happy, makes you happy, and allows your business to function as effectively as possible.

Mind the Boss-Employee Power Dynamic

Sivers says that when you’re the boss, you should always be mindful of the power dynamic that’s built into your interactions with employees because it impacts the weight of your words as well as their work. If an employee asks your thoughts on an idea they’ve come up with or a project they’re working on, be aware that your opinion carries more weight than that of a peer and that they may perceive your feedback as a directive rather than a suggestion or collaboration.

Sivers recommends that, in general, you respond positively to employees who ask your opinion about their ideas and projects, so long as doing so won’t make or break your company. This will encourage them, increase their investment in your company’s work, and will also boost staff morale.

(Shortform note: In Radical Candor, Kim Scott builds on the idea of positive employer-employee...

Anything You Want Summary Part 4: Center Your Customer

Now that you know how to manage your employees in a way that keeps everyone happy and your business operating smoothly, we’ll explore how to cater to, develop, and maintain strong relationships with your customers.

Prioritize Customers, Not Growth

Sivers says that the primary goal of your business is to help people, so while your company needs to be profitable enough to survive, your primary focus should be on understanding and addressing your customers’ needs, rather than growing your business or getting rich.

Sivers argues that it’s better to scrimp and save to build your business right than cater to investors. Although investors can help grow your business quickly, they may demand that you change your vision or compromise your values in ways that don’t help your customers.

(Shortform note: If you’re able to start your business without outside investors, it will be easier to make customer satisfaction the priority of your business. To do this, however, you’ll likely have to lower your start-up costs. Are you selling merchandise? Consider an online store rather than brick...

Anything You Want Summary Part 5: Know When to Say “When”

You’ve followed your passions, built your business, led with balance, and always centered your customer. Now we’ll talk about how to know if or when it’s time to walk away from your business.

Sivers says that when you no longer have passion for running your business, it’s time to close shop or sell. This is more than having a bad day at the office—when you’ve surpassed your goals for the company, you can’t think of where to take it next (or simply don’t have interest in it), and when you begin routinely fantasizing about getting out, that’s when you know it’s time.

Leaving the company isn’t just for you: When your interest in your company wanes, sticking around only risks doing damage to it. Sivers says that if you care about your company, you’ll make sure that it’s being run by someone who wants the job and will do it with their whole heart.

Lesson illustrated: Sivers says he knew it was time to sell CD Baby when he’d achieved all his goals, didn’t have a vision for taking the business...

Shortform Exercise: Take Ownership of Your Role at Work

Sivers says business owners should empower employees through delegation and trust, but that owners should also retain overall control. Reflect on times that you have or haven’t delegated to others and how you might improve that power balance.

Describe a time when you delegated a task to someone else (in your professional or personal life) and that person dropped the ball. What happened and how did it affect your relationship with that person?