Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers is an American author, musician, programmer, and entrepreneur. He was born in California in 1969 and has lived in various places throughout his life. Sivers is known for his surprising and pithy insights, as well as his succinct writing style.

39 Quotes

"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
Anything You Want | Derek Sivers
"Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want | Derek Sivers
"Your business plan is moot. You don’t know what people really want until you launch."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want | Derek Sivers
"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."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want | Derek Sivers
"Starting with no money is an advantage. You don’t need money to start helping people."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"A quick glance and common sense should tell you if the numbers will work. The rest are details."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"When you’re onto something great, it won’t feel like revolution. It’ll feel like uncommon sense."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what’s not working."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"When deciding whether to do something, if you feel anything less than “Wow! That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell yeah!” then say no."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"serial entrepreneur Steve Blank: “No business plan survives first contact with customers.”"
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"By not having any money to waste, you never waste money."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Necessity is a great teacher."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Never forget that absolutely everything you do is for your customers. Make every decision—even decisions about whether to expand the business, raise money, or promote someone—according to what’s best for your customers."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"“How can I best help you now?”"
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"the way to grow your business is to focus entirely on your existing customers."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Starting small puts 100 percent of your energy into actually solving real problems for real people."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"To me, ideas are worth nothing unless they are executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"You can’t pretend there’s only one way to do it. Your first idea is just one of many options. No business goes as planned, so make ten radically different plans."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"please don’t think you need a huge vision. Just stay focused on helping people today."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"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?"
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"How do you grade yourself? It’s important to know in advance, to make sure you’re staying focused on what’s honestly important to you, instead of doing what others think you should."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"That’s the Tao of business: Care about your customers more than about yourself, and you’ll do well."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"We want to give to those who give. It’s another Tao of business: Set up your business like you don’t need the money, and it’ll likely come your way."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"When one customer wrongs you, remember the hundred thousand who did not. You’re lucky to own your own business. Life is good. You can’t prevent bad things from happening. Learn to shrug."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"In your little world, you can make it like it should be."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"That one silly e-mail, sent out with every order, has been so loved that if you search Google for “private CD Baby jet,” you’ll get almost twenty thousand results. Each one is somebody who got the e-mail and loved it enough to post it on his website and tell all his friends. That one goofy e-mail created thousands of new customers."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"If you find even the smallest way to make people smile, they’ll remember you more for that smile than for all your other fancy business-model stuff."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"I made it so that every outgoing e-mail customized the “From:” field to be “CD Baby loves [first name].” So if the customer’s name was Susan, every e-mail she got from us would say it was from “CD Baby loves Susan.” Customers loved this!"
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Even if you want to be big someday, remember that you never need to act like a big boring company. Over ten years, it seemed like every time someone raved about how much he loved CD Baby, it was because of one of these little fun human touches."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"In the end, it’s about what you want to be, not what you want to have. To have something (a finished recording, a business, or millions of dollars) is the means, not the end. To be something (a good singer, a skilled entrepreneur, or just plain happy) is the real point."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"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."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Never forget that you can make your role anything you want it to be. Anything you hate to do, someone else loves. So find that person and let her do it."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"You can’t live someone else’s expectation of a traditional business. You have to just do whatever you love the most, or you’ll lose interest in the whole thing."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Make sure you know what makes you happy, and don’t forget it."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Trust, but verify. Remember it when delegating. You have to do both."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Lesson learned too late: Delegate, but don’t abdicate."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"I asked Seth Godin’s advice. All he said was, “If you care, sell.”"
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"A business is a reflection of the creator."
Derek Sivers
Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
"Just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you. 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: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

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