Your Music and People - Derek Sivers

A lovely little book on how to conduct business. It's geared towards the music industry, but applies to any. This page does an excellent job summarizing the book, so I won't even attempt to here. Then go read the book to let the points sink in. Here are my main takeaways.

Be yourself.

Be considerate.

Get personal and always be thinking about how you can help someone.

Don't try to please everyone. Focus on your fans.

Stay in touch.

Money is simply a neutral exchange of value. Provide something valuable to others.

Sell the meaning of something rather than the thing itself. Emotional connections are much stronger than transactions.

Log

Marketing is the final extension of your art.

Approach everything as an experiment. It's impossible to fail if your only goal is to see what happens.

Give yourself restrictions to spark motivation. Limiting the solution space makes problems seem less daunting.

Don't be afraid to show who you are, even in business. It makes you more human and people can connect with that. And if they don't, who cares? They're not your people and it's okay to exclude them. It'll make your people care about you even more.

Really, “marketing” just means being considerate.

Marketing means making it easy for people to notice you, relate to you, remember you, and tell their friends about you.

Marketing means listening for what people need, and creating something surprisingly tailored for them.

Marketing means getting to know people, making a deeper connection, and keeping in touch.

Marketing is all about empathizing with the person you are trying to reach. Try to understand what they're looking for and give it to them.

Be what they want. And maybe they’ll be what you want, too.

Always have a succinct version of your reason for contacting someone. But also have a more information available if they have the time and interest.

Life is like high school. It's mostly social, about being likeable, and having the courage to be an idealized version of yourself. As shitty as that sounds.

Even if a relationship starts professional, get personal as soon as possible. That's a more fulfilling and genuine human connection. Plus people send opportunities to people they like and trust.

Always think about how you can be helping someone.

There’s always a favor you can do. Give give give, and sometimes you will receive.

People like doing favors. It shows that they're valuable to you.

Friends of friends will know how to get everything you want in life.

Persistence is polite. It shows how much you care about something.

Always be in pursuit of a real friendship.

Show success before asking for help. Two thoughts on this. (1) If you don't get the help, it won't matter because you'll have already proven that you can go it alone. (2) You'll probably get the help and will have more leverage negotiating.

Many more opportunities will open to you once you’ve earned your way through a few filters.

You can do anything, but you can’t do everything. You have to decide.

Don't get distracted by the non-core aspects of running your business. Or if you like some of those aspects, maybe it's time to reflect and pursue them instead. But if something must be done, and you don't like doing it, delegate it to someone who does.

You only have a boss if you choose to. It might give you some security and stability, but there is less freedom. By going it alone, everything is up to you. Decide what you value more and take that route.

Ask for help, but don't wait for it.

Impress people with how little you spend. You rarely need expensive tools to do what you want to do. Waiting for them is just another excuse.

It's easy to take action on specific steps. So when you want something, write out the steps you know, or at least the next immediate step you can take.

Call the destination, and ask for directions.

You’ll get there much faster than walking without a map, hoping you arrive someday.

Assume nobody is going to help you so you always focus on the things you can control and take action on them. If you get help, great.

Find what you love and let it kill you.

You have more power to flip things that suck in your favor than you think. And sometimes the smallest thing can do it.

If you’re not happy with the way things are, don’t just complain. Go make things how they should be.

Give people a reason to care about what you do. Make them curious.

Use the language of your audience to describe what you do.

Aim for the edges. People at the edges are looking for something new and will be your biggest fans if you impress them.

Find a niche and own it, no matter how small it is. It's easier to focus and thrill your real fans.

When you don't try to please everyone, you really please the people you're targetting.

If you focus on a very specific thing for some period of time, you create a wide variety of things in the long run.

Be identifiable.

It’s supply and demand. The more people do something, the less valuable it is.

So do what others aren't doing and make up your own game to play.

Fans of the obscure niches search harder for it. Make sure they can find you. You want the passionate fans of your niche, not the casual fans of mainstream.

Stay in touch with people. Everyone you meet has the potential to help you, and for you to help them.

The number of people you meet will determine your success.

Once you meet someone, keep in touch. Don't waste the effort it took to meet them. And if you're regularly at the top of their mind, they will often think of you first when opportunities arise.

Every breakthrough comes from someone you know.

You aren’t pulled to success by destiny. You’re lifted there by those around you. So acknowledge their contribution, and bring them along for the ride.

The way to be interesting to others is to be interested in them. Ask about what they do, and always be thinking about how you can help them.

Everything happens in the follow-up, so make sure to stay in touch.

Relationships are reciprocal. You need to give to receive.

The happiest musicians are the ones who develop their value, and confidently charge a high price. There’s a deep satisfaction when you know how valuable you are, and the world agrees. Then it reinforces itself, because you can focus on being the best artist you can be, since you’ve found an audience that rewards you for it.

Money is simply a neutral exchange of value.

Our feelings feel like facts, but they're actually not. If something is valuable to you, there's no guarantee it'll be valuable to others. Money only come by doing something valuable to others.

Pour your personality and philosophy into the way you do business. People actually appreciate it when you do things in a surprising way. It shows you care more than most — that you’re putting your self into this — that you’re not just in it for the money.

Emphasize the meaning of what you're selling, not the price. That immediately converts a monetary transaction into an emotional connection, which is way more valuable. And they'll probably be more likely to give you money.

Let people know what they're supporting. Make an emotional connection. Many people will be happy to give you money.

It's considerate to charge more for your work. People will be appreciate it more and be more invested.

Never promote something until people can take action, or you might waste the one moment you had their attention.

You need to distinguish between what is your real goal, and what are the unnecessary details. Don’t let the details distract you from your goal.

Instead of predicting the future, focus your time and energy on the fundamentals. The unpredictable changes around them are just the details.

Follow advice that makes you want to take action. If it doesn't resonate with you, it's probably not good advice for you.

Whatever excites you, go do it.

Whatever drains you, stop doing it.

Nothing is worth losing your enthusiasm over.