Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

My brother in-law recommended and let me borrow the book “Anything You Want” by Derek Sivers. It was a nice short read at about 80 pages. I am not much of a businessman, but I am a dreamer. I love to create and see my ideas come to life, much like Sivers. Which is why I loved this book. Sivers is a musician who created the online store CD Baby. It started out as a way for him to sell his music and then grew into helping other independent musicians sell their music and thus their dreams.

I love this book, because Sivers never set out to be rich. He repeats throughout the book how he was making more money than he wanted. Business is not about money but making dreams come true. Not just for yourself but other a well. I can't help but think what our world would be like if more businesses took this approach.

My favorite section was about caring for your customers more than your business. If your business was created to solve a problem and it accomplishes that goal then it needs to be willing to shut down. Make sure the business is not keeping the problem around so that it’s services will still be required. He equated it to the hero who is prepared to die in order to save the day. This does not apply to all businesses but it makes you think.

To have a businesses not consumed with maximizing profits but with helping others and satisfied with just being profitable. I feel if more entrepreneurs read this book than the “Art of War” we would be moving in the right direction. It might be easier to be sustainable shoppers if companies didn’t have money as their number one business goal.