Derek Sivers
Derek Sivers
Derek Sivers is an American entrepreneur best known for being the founder and former president of CD Baby, an online CD store for independent musicians. A professional musiciansince 1987, Sivers started CD Baby by accident in 1997 when he was selling his own CD on his website, and friends asked if he could sell theirs, too. CD Baby went on to become the largest seller of independent music on the web, with over $100M in sales for over 150,000 musician...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth22 September 1969
CountryUnited States of America
You can't please everyone, so proudly exclude people.
Customer service is the new marketing.
Making a company is a great way to improve the world while improving yourself.
The most important lesson is probably to spend less than you earn.
You grow (and thrive!) by doing what excites you and what scares you everyday, not by trying to find your passion.
Let’s never forget that whatever brilliant ideas you have or hear, that the opposite may also be true.
Don't be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams.
You're free to do anything you want with your company. It's more like art. You don't have to follow any norms. It's an expression of how you feel the world should be. When you make a company, that's your little place to make your own little utopia.
Everyone who became great at something has a similar story: For years, they worked on their craft every day, even if they weren’t in the mood. Always pushing, practicing, working, and improvingYes it takes thousands of hours of practice, but that’s good news! It’s a clear path and it’s under your control.
Repeated psychology tests have proven that telling someone your goal makes it less likely to happen.
Business is not about money. It's about making dreams come true for others and for yourself.
Everything I ever wanted to know I just ask a search engine and there's the answer. So the least I can do for my clients is share what I've learned.
Distributing the music is so easy it's moot. So now the delicate art of calling attention to your music means everything. Marketing is distribution.
A work-only zone does wonders for your productivity. So, I prefer working at the office now. I spend 8 focused hours there, then I go home to be present with my family.