The Now Page of Phil Sawatsky

derek sivers bookmarks part 2 december 2022

Your music and People:

creative and considerate fame

Rockstars have a boss?

But you only have a boss if you choose to

Get Specific:

You can't act on a vague desire

Turn a vague goal into specifoc steps to make it easier to take action.

Also lets you test the theory.

Research first.

Call&Ask How they Got There:

Bring a small gift and ask for 5minutes.

derek sivers bookmarks hoopla part 3 dec 2022

anything you want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur

no "yes." either "hell yeah!" or "no":

saying no to most things is how you make room for more "hell yeah!" moments

the co-op business model: share whatever you have:

started out free

http://hostbaby.com/ is $10-20/month usd for a custom domain with merch and concerts {aka bandzoogle} - it was started by derek sharing his $300/mo server for $20/mo.

ideas are just a multiplier of execution:

bad idea -$1

ok idea $1

kiler idea $20

times by execution: okX100 :]X1000 :}X10000

that's why derek is not interested in people's ideas until he can see their execution

you can afford to be generous:

all exemplary customer service comes from an abundance mindset. inverse is also true.

care about your customers more than you care about yourself:

tao - company willing to die for customers

like you don't need the money:

people can sense if a company's in it for tha cash. they would rather give to someone who doesn't need their help - labels sign musicians who don't need their help. do it for love, generously, trustingly - then they want to pay you. universal

customer service is everything:

not an expense but the core profit center like sales

every interaction is your moment to shine:

take a few minutes to get to know them & listen to their music.

lose every fight:

don't even be a slight bit agressive; replace that with something kind and generous. empthy practice. loud complainers become loud evangelists.

don't punish everyone for one person's mistake:

airline shoe removal started when 1 person tried lighting their shoe on fire.

you should feelpain when unclear:

xNO $5000 time penalty for an unclear sentence. clarity is efficient.

the most successful email i ever wrote:

you are the customer of the year!

little things make all the difference:

one line of code cutomized the from email as "cdbaby loves {firstname.} never need to act like a big boring company. ask for squid: get squid.

delegate or die: the self employed trap;

gather everybody around for each question; explain the reasons why.

make myself unnecessesary to the running of my company. explain goal higherarchy. you have my full permission to use that guideline to make decisions in the future. help them understand the history&philosophy of the company. e-myth revisited book by michael gruber. make sure the place could go a year without you and still be doing better.

it's ok to be casual:

hiring friends of friends without background checks or interviews

naive quitting:

hired and trained my replacement. decide from scratch what seems like the right thing to do, rther than follow norms.

don't add your two cents:

once you become the boss your opinion is dangerous. adding $0.02 can really hurt morale. anything more than $0.02 still needs to be addressed with care. otherwise, let it go so the other person can feel full ownership of the idea.

prepare to double:

going from 10 to 20 clients can cause frazzle. more of the same doesn't work. you have to do things in a new way. internal processes should be designed to handle double the current load. this sends the message: "come on in; plenty of room for everyone"

it's about being, not having:

derek could have hired someone to produce his music or code his site in weeks but he wanted to be a producer&programmer so he read books and took years to learn these himself. the joy of learning&doing. to have a record or site is not the point, to be happy is. you don't hire a taxi to take you to a marathon finish line.

make it everything you want:

derek wanted to keep it small, mba's couldn't understand. you have to do what you love most, or risk losing interest. even if you say it's for the money; that's only a means to happiness, right? after a certain point more money creates only more problems, not happiness. make sure you know what truly makes u happy & never forget!

trust, but verify:

hired a guy who signed a contract saying "every album; to every company; every week" but had to fire him. worked 15hr days for months to catch up. when delegating both trust and verifying are required.

delegate but don't abdicate:

profit sharing plan choice left up to employees; all profits went to them; derek discovered & fixed this but the employees now hated him

how i knew i was done with my company: journaled and got grilled about it by a friend. you'll know when it's time. slept well & woke with ideas for his next company {ask derek this someday?}

why i gave my company to charity:

charitable trust called musicians charitable remainder unitrust. 5%/yr goes to derek. when he dies all goes to charity. saved $5mil in taxes. "this guy has everything" "but i have something he'll never have: enough" derek lives without a house or car or even a tv. this gives him the freedom to live anywhere anytime {this was written before he had his son though} doing it this way made derek happiest. avoids frivolous lawsuits and other headaches.

you make your perfect world:

just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you; when are you being most real?

Never Wait:

Expert in Copyright law says to keep record that you contacted the author for permission but sell it now and pay them later if they ask.

Was 10% Now 90%

Decades back only 10% of ypur career ws up to you. Now it's 90% you planning it out and building a following.

You don't get extreme results without extreme actions:

xNO if you want extreme fame you Can't get 2 dogs that need you to be home.

Flip it In Your Favour:

Song not getting played? Start a radio station like somafm. I started cdbaby now distribution doesn't suck.

Not happy with existing venues? Make a new one:

Story of "The Hotel Cafe" in Hollywood

When your music can't speak for itself:

Come up with a great description

A curious answer to the most cderek sivers bookmarks hoopla part 3 dec 2022

anything you want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur

no "yes." either "hell yeah!" or "no":

saying no to most things is how you make room for more "hell yeah!" moments

the co-op business model: share whatever you have:

started out free

http://hostbaby.com/ is $10-20/month usd for a custom domain with merch and concerts {aka bandzoogle} - it was started by derek sharing his $300/mo server for $20/mo.

ideas are just a multiplier of execution:

bad idea -$1

ok idea $1

kiler idea $20

times by execution: okX100 :]X1000 :}X10000

that's why derek is not interested in people's ideas until he can see their execution

you can afford to be generous:

all exemplary customer service comes from an abundance mindset. inverse is also true.

care about your customers more than you care about yourself:

tao - company willing to die for customers

like you don't need the money:

people can sense if a company's in it for tha cash. they would rather give to someone who doesn't need their help - labels sign musicians who don't need their help. do it for love, generously, trustingly - then they want to pay you. universal

customer service is everything:

not an expense but the core profit center like sales

every interaction is your moment to shine:

take a few minutes to get to know them & listen to their music.

lose every fight:

don't even be a slight bit agressive; replace that with something kind and generous. empthy practice. loud complainers become loud evangelists.

don't punish everyone for one person's mistake:

airline shoe removal started when 1 person tried lighting their shoe on fire.

you should feelpain when unclear:

xNO $5000 time penalty for an unclear sentence. clarity is efficient.

the most successful email i ever wrote:

you are the customer of the year!

little things make all the difference:

one line of code cutomized the from email as "cdbaby loves {firstname.} never need to act like a big boring company. ask for squid: get squid.

delegate or die: the self employed trap;

gather everybody around for each question; explain the reasons why.

make myself unnecessesary to the running of my company. explain goal higherarchy. you have my full permission to use that guideline to make decisions in the future. help them understand the history&philosophy of the company. e-myth revisited book by michael gruber. make sure the place could go a year without you and still be doing better.

it's ok to be casual:

hiring friends of friends without background checks or interviews

naive quitting:

hired and trained my replacement. decide from scratch what seems like the right thing to do, rther than follow norms.

don't add your two cents:

once you become the boss your opinion is dangerous. adding $0.02 can really hurt morale. anything more than $0.02 still needs to be addressed with care. otherwise, let it go so the other person can feel full ownership of the idea.

prepare to double:

going from 10 to 20 clients can cause frazzle. more of the same doesn't work. you have to do things in a new way. internal processes should be designed to handle double the current load. this sends the message: "come on in; plenty of room for everyone"

it's about being, not having:

derek could have hired someone to produce his music or code his site in weeks but he wanted to be a producer&programmer so he read books and took years to learn these himself. the joy of learning&doing. to have a record or site is not the point, to be happy is. you don't hire a taxi to take you to a marathon finish line.

make it everything you want:

derek wanted to keep it small, mba's couldn't understand. you have to do what you love most, or risk losing interest. even if you say it's for the money; that's only a means to happiness, right? after a certain point more money creates only more problems, not happiness. make sure you know what truly makes u happy & never forget!

trust, but verify:

hired a guy who signed a contract saying "every album; to every company; every week" but had to fire him. worked 15hr days for months to catch up. when delegating both trust and verifying are required.

delegate but don't abdicate:

profit sharing plan choice left up to employees; all profits went to them; derek discovered & fixed this but the employees now hated him

how i knew i was done with my company: journaled and got grilled about it by a friend. you'll know when it's time. slept well & woke with ideas for his next company {ask derek this someday?}

why i gave my company to charity:

charitable trust called musicians charitable remainder unitrust. 5%/yr goes to derek. when he dies all goes to charity. saved $5mil in taxes. "this guy has everything" "but i have something he'll never have: enough" derek lives without a house or car or even a tv. this gives him the freedom to live anywhere anytime {this was written before he had his son though} doing it this way made derek happiest. avoids frivolous lawsuits and other headaches.

you make your perfect world:

just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you; when are you being most real?

Common question:

Choose the right description and you can pique their interest in your music. Don't lose their interest by giving a generic answer.

Without a good reason, they won't bother:

"You'll have to come to our concert to find out hiw we sound" will never work.

Don't know how to describe your music?

Treat teens to a pizza to get their opinions. Once you think you've got a good description try it out on people. If their eyes light up you know you've got a good one!

Hillbilly Flamenco:

The day they started using those two words to describe their music, the world opened up. Teach the crowd an easy and fun description.

Proudly Exclude Most People:

Most musicians are trying to please everyone so when you don't it shows tou have talent and confidence.derek sivers bookmarks hoopla part 3 dec 2022

anything you want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur

no "yes." either "hell yeah!" or "no":

saying no to most things is how you make room for more "hell yeah!" moments

the co-op business model: share whatever you have:

started out free

http://hostbaby.com/ is $10-20/month usd for a custom domain with merch and concerts {aka bandzoogle} - it was started by derek sharing his $300/mo server for $20/mo.

ideas are just a multiplier of execution:

bad idea -$1

ok idea $1

kiler idea $20

times by execution: okX100 :]X1000 :}X10000

that's why derek is not interested in people's ideas until he can see their execution

you can afford to be generous:

all exemplary customer service comes from an abundance mindset. inverse is also true.

care about your customers more than you care about yourself:

tao - company willing to die for customers

like you don't need the money:

people can sense if a company's in it for tha cash. they would rather give to someone who doesn't need their help - labels sign musicians who don't need their help. do it for love, generously, trustingly - then they want to pay you. universal

customer service is everything:

not an expense but the core profit center like sales

every interaction is your moment to shine:

take a few minutes to get to know them & listen to their music.

lose every fight:

don't even be a slight bit agressive; replace that with something kind and generous. empthy practice. loud complainers become loud evangelists.

don't punish everyone for one person's mistake:

airline shoe removal started when 1 person tried lighting their shoe on fire.

you should feelpain when unclear:

xNO $5000 time penalty for an unclear sentence. clarity is efficient.

the most successful email i ever wrote:

you are the customer of the year!

little things make all the difference:

one line of code cutomized the from email as "cdbaby loves {firstname.} never need to act like a big boring company. ask for squid: get squid.

delegate or die: the self employed trap;

gather everybody around for each question; explain the reasons why.

make myself unnecessesary to the running of my company. explain goal higherarchy. you have my full permission to use that guideline to make decisions in the future. help them understand the history&philosophy of the company. e-myth revisited book by michael gruber. make sure the place could go a year without you and still be doing better.

it's ok to be casual:

hiring friends of friends without background checks or interviews

naive quitting:

hired and trained my replacement. decide from scratch what seems like the right thing to do, rther than follow norms.

don't add your two cents:

once you become the boss your opinion is dangerous. adding $0.02 can really hurt morale. anything more than $0.02 still needs to be addressed with care. otherwise, let it go so the other person can feel full ownership of the idea.

prepare to double:

going from 10 to 20 clients can cause frazzle. more of the same doesn't work. you have to do things in a new way. internal processes should be designed to handle double the current load. this sends the message: "come on in; plenty of room for everyone"

it's about being, not having:

derek could have hired someone to produce his music or code his site in weeks but he wanted to be a producer&programmer so he read books and took years to learn these himself. the joy of learning&doing. to have a record or site is not the point, to be happy is. you don't hire a taxi to take you to a marathon finish line.

make it everything you want:

derek wanted to keep it small, mba's couldn't understand. you have to do what you love most, or risk losing interest. even if you say it's for the money; that's only a means to happiness, right? after a certain point more money creates only more problems, not happiness. make sure you know what truly makes u happy & never forget!

trust, but verify:

hired a guy who signed a contract saying "every album; to every company; every week" but had to fire him. worked 15hr days for months to catch up. when delegating both trust and verifying are required.

delegate but don't abdicate:

profit sharing plan choice left up to employees; all profits went to them; derek discovered & fixed this but the employees now hated him

how i knew i was done with my company: journaled and got grilled about it by a friend. you'll know when it's time. slept well & woke with ideas for his next company {ask derek this someday?}

why i gave my company to charity:

charitable trust called musicians charitable remainder unitrust. 5%/yr goes to derek. when he dies all goes to charity. saved $5mil in taxes. "this guy has everything" "but i have something he'll never have: enough" derek lives without a house or car or even a tv. this gives him the freedom to live anywhere anytime {this was written before he had his son though} doing it this way made derek happiest. avoids frivolous lawsuits and other headaches.

you make your perfect world:

just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you; when are you being most real?

Well rounded doesn't cut:

Focus sharp as a knife to cut through apathy.

Why you need database:

Ask Derek if his free database software is ready.

Valuable to others, or only to you?

2Choices: try to make your songs valuble to others; or don't try to please anyone but you. You might be happier with the second choice, and even though you won't care, people might respect&appreciate you more.

Pricing Philosophy:

1500$ for 2 hours or $2000 for 1. Covers travel time anyway. People can respect if money's not most important.

Emphasize Meaning Over Price:

Gave cds away as pay what you want. Made more fans and more money.

Some People Like To Pay. Let Them:

Not everyone is broke.

Give people a reason to support. Tell them what it goes toward. Show you appreciate. It will actually make them happy to give you money. Radiohead offered "In Rainbows" for free; 40% paid anyway.

The higher the price, the more they value it:

xNO People think it's considerate to charge more; but money is only charged for advice or school to make sure someone will do the work.

Are fans telling friends? If not don't promote:

Until that point best uae of your time is to refine and improve.

Seth Godin's book Purple Cow

Don't promote until people can take action:

You might waste the moment you have their attention. 1)record your music 2)converse with promoters without pitching anything 3)prepare your marketing plan but don't execute yet 4)get your music distributed everywhere &test that it streams and works 5)then do your promotional plan and tell everyone. Repeat this cycle twice for crowd funding

Never have a limit on your income:

Imagine a masseuse and a book writer get popular. The masseuse will be limited by her hands on time with a customer. The book writer can continue to make money after the work is finished without effort. Same goes with concerts and downloads. Which business would you rather be in? Look for ways you can generate income while you sleep.

Move to the big city:

xNO LA NY SF and London give more opportunities but where's the work life balance?

Detailed dreams blind you to new means:

Ask yourself wht the point is of your dreams. Then see if there is a simpler way to get there. Don't let details distract you from your goal. Let go of outdted dreams that keep you fderek sivers bookmarks hoopla part 3 dec 2022

anything you want: 40 lessons for a new kind of entrepreneur

no "yes." either "hell yeah!" or "no":

saying no to most things is how you make room for more "hell yeah!" moments

the co-op business model: share whatever you have:

started out free

http://hostbaby.com/ is $10-20/month usd for a custom domain with merch and concerts {aka bandzoogle} - it was started by derek sharing his $300/mo server for $20/mo.

ideas are just a multiplier of execution:

bad idea -$1

ok idea $1

kiler idea $20

times by execution: okX100 :]X1000 :}X10000

that's why derek is not interested in people's ideas until he can see their execution

you can afford to be generous:

all exemplary customer service comes from an abundance mindset. inverse is also true.

care about your customers more than you care about yourself:

tao - company willing to die for customers

like you don't need the money:

people can sense if a company's in it for tha cash. they would rather give to someone who doesn't need their help - labels sign musicians who don't need their help. do it for love, generously, trustingly - then they want to pay you. universal

customer service is everything:

not an expense but the core profit center like sales

every interaction is your moment to shine:

take a few minutes to get to know them & listen to their music.

lose every fight:

don't even be a slight bit agressive; replace that with something kind and generous. empthy practice. loud complainers become loud evangelists.

don't punish everyone for one person's mistake:

airline shoe removal started when 1 person tried lighting their shoe on fire.

you should feelpain when unclear:

xNO $5000 time penalty for an unclear sentence. clarity is efficient.

the most successful email i ever wrote:

you are the customer of the year!

little things make all the difference:

one line of code cutomized the from email as "cdbaby loves {firstname.} never need to act like a big boring company. ask for squid: get squid.

delegate or die: the self employed trap;

gather everybody around for each question; explain the reasons why.

make myself unnecessesary to the running of my company. explain goal higherarchy. you have my full permission to use that guideline to make decisions in the future. help them understand the history&philosophy of the company. e-myth revisited book by michael gruber. make sure the place could go a year without you and still be doing better.

it's ok to be casual:

hiring friends of friends without background checks or interviews

naive quitting:

hired and trained my replacement. decide from scratch what seems like the right thing to do, rther than follow norms.

don't add your two cents:

once you become the boss your opinion is dangerous. adding $0.02 can really hurt morale. anything more than $0.02 still needs to be addressed with care. otherwise, let it go so the other person can feel full ownership of the idea.

prepare to double:

going from 10 to 20 clients can cause frazzle. more of the same doesn't work. you have to do things in a new way. internal processes should be designed to handle double the current load. this sends the message: "come on in; plenty of room for everyone"

it's about being, not having:

derek could have hired someone to produce his music or code his site in weeks but he wanted to be a producer&programmer so he read books and took years to learn these himself. the joy of learning&doing. to have a record or site is not the point, to be happy is. you don't hire a taxi to take you to a marathon finish line.

make it everything you want:

derek wanted to keep it small, mba's couldn't understand. you have to do what you love most, or risk losing interest. even if you say it's for the money; that's only a means to happiness, right? after a certain point more money creates only more problems, not happiness. make sure you know what truly makes u happy & never forget!

trust, but verify:

hired a guy who signed a contract saying "every album; to every company; every week" but had to fire him. worked 15hr days for months to catch up. when delegating both trust and verifying are required.

delegate but don't abdicate:

profit sharing plan choice left up to employees; all profits went to them; derek discovered & fixed this but the employees now hated him

how i knew i was done with my company: journaled and got grilled about it by a friend. you'll know when it's time. slept well & woke with ideas for his next company {ask derek this someday?}

why i gave my company to charity:

charitable trust called musicians charitable remainder unitrust. 5%/yr goes to derek. when he dies all goes to charity. saved $5mil in taxes. "this guy has everything" "but i have something he'll never have: enough" derek lives without a house or car or even a tv. this gives him the freedom to live anywhere anytime {this was written before he had his son though} doing it this way made derek happiest. avoids frivolous lawsuits and other headaches.

you make your perfect world:

just pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you; when are you being most real?

Twins Turn fourTeen

Saturday December 17^th, 2022

Today my Wife Liz had her family over to celebrate Zac & Ty's 14^th birthday.

Also thinking about starting a Green Web Business. There are a few things I need to do first: