Derek Sivers
Programmer, writer, entrepreneur & avid student of life
Discussion
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
Derek Sivers here. Started, built, and sold a company called CD Baby. Wrote a best-selling book with 40 lessons learned from the experience, called "Anything You Want". Spoke at TED a few times. People seem to like my writing at sivers.org. Ask me anything.
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Jonny Miller
@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia
Howdy @sivers! What did you learn from answering 4,778 emails in January (including a couple from me) from your readers asking you for advice about the big questions?
Bonus: can you distill any of these learnings into directives ;)Also: how the on earth do you answer 160 emails/day!
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@jonnym1ller It was like having 4778 writing assignments. Got my finger on the pulse of what many people want to know more about. I'm definitely turning them into articles. Two recent examples: https://sivers.org/gifts + https://sivers.org/switch Hundreds more to come.
Patrick Sanderson
@pjsanderson
Hi Derek, love your stuff.
I was wondering if you have come across any other companies that work with a similar philosophy as you had with CD Baby?
Reading your book made the whole idea sound so 'right'. I just don't understand why other companies don't seem to operate in that way...
Thanks
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@pjsanderson Thanks! Cards Against Humanity. http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/ definitely humanizes their whole approach. I love them more than the cards. Read their blog & stories or try to find talks by Max, the co-founder. Zappos, Nordstrom are big examples. Tons of little ones but I don't keep track, though Seth Godin does. If you read his books or blog he often talks about great examples: http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/
Patrick Sanderson
@pjsanderson
@sivers Cheers Derek, I will have a look at Cards Against Humanity.
And Seth, oh yeah, I've heard of him. He's almost as good as you!!
All the best pal.
Brent Summers
@brentsum · Founder, Code-Free Startup
Hi Derek, if you could leverage the collective voice/power of your readers to accomplish one thing with a large impact, what would it be?
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@brentsum Ack! Wow! I wouldn't want to be in charge of that crowd! ☺ Hmm... maybe can we pick up ALL the trash in the world? Every last bit? (Sorry I don't have a real answer for this. If I think of one some day I'll blog it. Good question.)
Brent Summers
@brentsum · Founder, Code-Free Startup
@sivers Thanks! As someone who moved to SF a few months ago, that answer is definitely a real one :) I actually think I saw a social network for taking photos of the trash you pick up on Product Hunt a few weeks back, but the name escapes me.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Out of all the people trying to find truth, or at elast make sense of the world -- novelists, philosophers, religious leaders, economists, sociologists, psychologists, palm-readers, etc -- what group or lens most resonates with you?
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@eriktorenberg I like the combination of psychologists, economists, and philosophers who pay attention to the first two. Psychology & economics intersection: https://sivers.org/book/Thinking... Philsophy: https://sivers.org/book/Antidote
GetSymfix
@macclabs · storywriter, cofounder
Hi Derek, What did you learn from being in business? Any top 3 learning lessons to share...? Thank you
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@theleanpioneer I narrowed it down to the top 40 lessons & typed it as succinctly as possible, can read in under an hour, here: https://sivers.org/a
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Hi Derek! What advice would you give to someone just starting out writing?
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@ems_hodge Imitate! Totally imitate your heroes' writing style. I'm probably still imitating Harry Beckwith - https://sivers.org/book/YouInc - and Robert Fulghum, among others.
Matt Walker
@the_mw · Founder - DayPoint
Stoked for the discussion - thank you! Few Q's: How do you approach your time? Do you struggle with your time (either productivity, time management, or just making sure you are spending your time meaningfully)? Do you have any approaches/tools to make the most of each day? Thanks again..!
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@the_mw Sorry I really don't. See https://sivers.org/2015-12-ferriss2 where he asks "What are your morning rituals?" I just throw myself into whatever I'm into for as long as I'm into it. No routine.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What was the book writing process like?
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@bentossell My book "Anything you Want" - https://sivers.org/a - only took 10 hours or so to write because it was mostly a collection of existing posts. But if you want to read another interesting book process, see https://sivers.org/robust
Joshua D. Voydik
@joshvoydik · Head of Biz Dev @CartStack
Hey Derek,
I like your somewhat binary, "HELL YEAH" or "NO" principle. Do you find yourself deviating from this, or are you pretty good about keeping up with it? What results have you seen from applying this, and can you give me an example(s)? Thanks!
-Josh
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Derek Sivers
@sivers · sivers.org
@joshvoydik "HELL YEAH OR NO" is only applicable in certain situations, where you're overwhelmed with opportunities. It's not meant to be applied everywhere. See https://sivers.org/switch