Substrat: "Never forget that you can make your role anything you want it to be."
don't make one business plan; make dozens with variations
being small & self-sufficient can be a good thing
design your business to have just lots of little clients
instead of trying to make his company big, he tried to make it small
w/o investors: "I didn’t have to please anybody but my customers and myself."
utopian dream-come-true distribution deal for independent musicians
pay me every week
show me full name and address of everyone who bought my CD
never kick me out for not selling enough
never allow paid placement
became CDBaby's mission statement (when it was a "worthy hobby")
simple business model: fixed $35 setup fee per album + variable $4 per CD sold
first version of CDBaby (took a few days to make, did almost nothing, lead to profitability)
1) list CDs with "buy now" button, 2) shopping cart gathers order info, 3) e-mail info to Derek
CD Baby doubled in size every year for the first six years (both customers and profit)
it’s good to prepare for what would happen if business doubled
"Never be the typical tragic small business that gets frazzled and freaked out when business is doing well.
It sends a repulsive 'I can’t handle this!' message to everyone."
Tao of business: Care about your customers more than about yourself, and you’ll do well.
"Your company should be willing to die for your customers."
tiny details thrill people to make them tell their friends
"None of your customers will ask you to turn your attention to expanding."
how he grades himself
how many useful things he creates, whether songs, companies, articles, websites, or anything else.
If he creates something that’s not useful to others, it doesn’t count.
memorable quotes
"Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what’s not working."
"Don’t try to impress an invisible jury of MBA professors."
"To have something is the means, not the end. To be something is the real point."
"You may be much happier as a $1 million business than a $1 billion business."
"When I decided to sell CD Baby, I already had enough. I live simply. I don’t own a house, a car, or even a TV.
The less I own, the happier I am. "
"Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn’t that enough?"
"If you set up your business like you don’t need the money, people are happier to pay you."