I just finished reading the book Anything You Want by Derek Sivers. He’s the guy that created CD Baby. The book was actually more the story of his journey from a musician trying to sell his stuff online to owning a huge multi-million dollar business (in the hundreds of millions) and eventually selling it. There’s a lot of really good principles in here, and some that I’d caution against. But, I would highly recommend it for anyone owning their own business or entrepreneurs.
The principle behind the book, is that you should just do “Anything You Want.” You can’t cater your business around what every single person wants, especially when unreasonable, and especially around “what you’re supposed to do” in business. Sure you put the customer first at all costs, but ultimately the business is yours and the decisions are yours to make. It’s the same principle as life.
So often we live our lives around the expectations of others. We try to please everyone else. We’re careful about doing or not doing things based on unwritten rules and expectations. We need to break free of that. What everyone else thinks is not important. I’m not talking about needlessly offending people or doing things that are immoral. I’m talking about thinking outside the box. Don’t be afraid to be you because someone else might not like you because you’re too talkative/too quiet/too nerdy/etc. There are unique things about you that should be celebrated. There are things that you can do, and probably should. Failing is okay, it’s how we learn. If we never risk, we’ll never accomplish something great. Living in fear and in light of others expectations is no way to live.
So, go do something outside the box. Do anything you want.
(And for the $8 on Kindle, and 2 hours it may take you to read it, really worth it.)
