Derek Sivers is a highly successful entrepreneur, coach and music industry pro whose inspirational blog posts are excelent reminders about the art of humanistic business and actionable advice for musicians. I particularly like his most recent post.

I feel like I know almost nothing about business, because the only business I’ve ever done is the co-op / sharing model.

It goes like this:

1. You already have something that people want.

It might be something you own, something you’ve learned how to do, or access to valuable resources, space, or people.

2. Find a way to share it with everyone who needs it.

Share because it’s what you do for friends, because it’s the right thing to do, because it makes the world a better place, and because it’ll make you deeply happy.

Share as your contribution in return for all the things and ideas that people have shared with you.

(If you’re having a bad day, or someone has recently wronged you, you may not feel the world has shared much with you, but here’s a reminder.)

3. If it takes some effort for you to share it, you can charge a little something for your effort, to ensure that this giving can continue.

My examples:
In 1994, the U.S. Copyright office still didn’t have their copyright forms online. You still had to mail a letter to Washington DC to ask them to mail you some blank forms, if you wanted to copyright your songs. I scanned all the forms, and put them on my website for free as printable downloads, for any musician who needed them. For the next year or two, until the government started putting the forms online, my site was the only place to get them. This was my first effort to contribute back to this great invention of the internet.

In 1995, I learned how to trademark my band name. It took many hours of work to figure out the legalese, but I did it.
I wrote out the step-by-step instructions and put them on my band’s website for free. For years it was the go-to resource for musicians who wanted to trademark their name.

In 1996, I had a little record label, so I got a UPC barcode account, so I could put unique UPC barcodes on my CDs. I had to pay $750 to the Universal Code Council to get a company account, but that meant I was allowed to create 100,000 products under my account. Musician friends asked how, so I showed them how, but also said they could use one of my product IDs. At first, I did this for free, as a favor, until friends started sending strangers my way. Because it took a little work to generate the number, create their EPS/TIFF graphic barcode, and keep track of their unique IDs forever, I charged $20. Over the next 12 years, this made me almost $2 million.

In 1997, I got a credit card merchant account to sell my own CD at live shows. It cost $1000 in set-up fees and took three months of red-tape paperwork. Then I built a little online shopping cart, which also took months of work, just to sell my own CD. Musician friends asked if they could use mine instead of having to go through all of that work, so I said OK. At first, I did this for free, as a favor, until it was taking up all of my time. Because it took me 45 minutes of work to digitize, stock, set up a new album in my system, I charged $35 per new album. Because it took 10 minutes of work to pick, pack, and ship a purchased CD, I charged $4 per CD sold. Over the next 12 years, this made me about $20 million.

In 1999, I had learned a lot about hosting websites. Linux, Apache, PHP, SQL, FTP, DNS, Qmail, SpamAssassin, etc. I had done it for myself for my band’s website, then for CD Baby, and bought my own servers. So when friends would complain about their existing web-hosting company, I’d host them on my servers instead. At first, I did this for free, as a favor, until it was filling up my server. Because each server cost me $300/month, and I had to hire a full-time person to manage this, I charged $20 per month. (In 1999, this was way cheap.)
Over the next 9 years, this made me about $5 million.

Since 2000, I’ve been sharing everything I’ve learned for free. I’m not the smartest guy, probably below average, but it costs nothing to share, and it’s the right thing to do, so I do. Over the last 11 years, this made me incredibly happy and lucky, because of all the interesting people I’ve met by doing it.

Point being:

None of these things looked like a business venture.

All of them were just sharing something I already had.

People often ask me if I have any suggestions for what kind of business they should get into.

I tell them the only thing I know how to recommend: “Start by sharing whatever you’ve got.”

© 2011 Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers
Entrepreneur, programmer, avid student of life. I make useful things, and share what I learn.

Me in 10 seconds

I’m an entrepreneur. I treat work as play.
I live by “whatever scares you, go do it”.
I’m a minimalist. The less I own, the happier I am.
I’m a learning addict.
I’m very comfortable being the leader and being on stage.
This is my favorite fable.

Official Bragging Bio

 

Originally a professional musician and circus clown, Derek Sivers created CD Baby in 1998. It became the largest seller of independent music online, with $100M in sales for 150,000 musicians. In 2008, Derek sold CD Baby for $22M, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education.

He is a frequent speaker at the TED Conference, with over 5 million views of his talks.

In 2011, he published a book which shot to #1 on all of its Amazon categories.

Derek Sivers lives in Singapore, where he is creating his next company.

I predict this single graphic will mobilize more people to call for the elimination of tax breaks for large corporations than any other campaign to date. It’s simple, presents the facts without emotion and allows readers to decide for themselves what to do next. I’m guessing simplifying the tax code, perhaps with the flat tax that has been talked about for years, will be on the front burner very soon. It’s never been that we don’t have the money to fix things, just that it was not distributed fairly and that the few were enjoying the use of high priced lawyers and accountants to use the law to save billions while the burden was on the many paying their taxes. A core piece of shifting the economic paradigm are fair taxes that level the playing field for all.

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The New Rules of Green Marketing by sustainability consultant Jacquelyn Ottman demonstrates how to effectively market green to mainstream customers. It’s filled with success stories from sustainability leaders including Ottman’s Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial clients

Green products have been around since the 1970s, but it’s only in recent years that they’ve become ubiquitous. That’s because savvy green marketers are no longer targeting “deep green” consumers with a “save the planet” pitch. Instead, they’re promoting the added value their products provide: better health, superior performance, good taste, or cost-effectiveness. In this innovative book Ottman argues that emphasizing primary benefits — the New Rules — is critical to winning over the mainstream consumer.

Drawing on the latest poll data and incorporating lessons learned from her clients and other leading sustainable brands — including GE, Nike, Method, Starbucks, Timberland, HP, NatureWorks, Procter & Gamble, Stonyfield Farm, and Wal-Mart — Ottman provides practical strategies, tools, and inspiration for building every aspect of a credible value-based green marketing strategy. She covers such topics as spurring innovation through a proactive approach to sustainability, developing products that are green throughout their life cycle, communicating credibly to avoid accusations of “greenwashing,” teaming up with stakeholders to maximize outreach to consumers, taking advantage of social media, and much more.

The New Rules of Green Marketing captures the best of Ottman’s two previous groundbreaking books on green marketing and places it within a 21st Century context. Focusing on a new generation of marketers who likely grew up with an appreciation for sustainability, it provides in one place essential strategies, tools, and inspiration for connecting effectively with mainstream consumers.

You can purchase this great new reference book direct from its publisher, Berrett-Koehler and receive a 30% discount.

Not sure why this day has brought so many interesting new ideas, but here they are for your review.

Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible by Daniel Burrus is a powerful new business book that promises to unlock our ability to intuit the future which is a strategic advantage in business and a wonderful plus in anyone’s life. The book has received great reviews and is already #1 on Amazon. When you purchase the book from Dan’s site, you’ll receive a treasure chest of free bonuses that are worth many times the cost of the book. Learn more about this must read book and order your copy here.

Cancer Commons is a new website that brings together doctors, patients and researchers in a free open source data base that provides treatment protocols using real time updates of what has worked and what has not. The founder had a serious type of melanoma and was fortunate to have a friend who connected him with a promising new drug that saved his life. Now he wants to help others weave their way through the cancer maze without the confusion of where to look for answers that are working. The site is initially focused on melanoma and plans to expand to all types of cancer overtime. Worth bookmarking. Click here to visit CancerCommons

The Healthy Money Summit is a free teleseminar with some of the leading experts in redefining our relationship with money. Hosted by Vicki Robin, it will feature calls with an outstanding group of visionaries including Hazel Henderson (Developer of the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators),  Lynn Twist (The Soul of Money and Pachamama Alliance), David Korten (Yes! Magazine and When Corporations Rule the World) and Bernard Lietaer (The Future of Money & GaiaCorp). There is truly no more critical subject than transforming the role of and our relationship to money so this priceless gathering is well worth attending. Enroll here.

Our worlds are made of stories. If you or your business are ready for a new more compelling story, this summit may be for you and, for $11.11, it seems like a great bargain so I’m participating.

WHAT: This two-week virtual conference will focus on the power of the narrative to challenge assumptions and identify ways to change the world. Via webinar and online voice and video calls, business leaders and social change-makers will share best practices for creating and delivering stories that can help us to reinvent – as organizations and individuals.

WHO: Michael Margolis, president of Get Storied, has organized a list of speakers to present summit content and engage people across disciplines. Speakers include:

* John Gerzema, President BrandAsset Consulting, Young & Rubicam
* Tiffany Shlain, founder, Webby Awards, and doc/cultural filmmaker
* John Elkington, pioneer of corporate social responsibility/sustainability
* Nancy Duarte, author, Slideology and Resonate: Present Visual Stories
* Julien Smith, co-author, Trust Agents, pioneering podcaster
* A full list of speakers is available at www.reinventionsummit.com/speakers

WHEN: Nov. 11 through 22, 2010 (with sessions recorded for playback). The content and the community will live on beyond just those two weeks. Consider the Summit the first chapter of an evolving narrative.

WHERE: Online at www.reinventionsummit.com with costs starting at $11.11 and offering 30+ hours of content, online collaboration, and bonus downloadable materials.

WHY: Against the backdrop of the nation’s recession and quickly changing communications, many organizations and individuals experience the need to reinvent themselves, their campaigns, and their engagement strategies. A longtime storytelling consultant, Margolis focuses on the power of narrative — the most basic and emotionally resonant form of human communication.

Get Storied is a leading voice for the business of storytelling. In producing its first annual Reinvention Summit, Get Storied has received support from a team including more than 40 individual producers and partnerships with Abraham Harrison, Alphachimp Studios, Fenton Communications, A. Smith Consultancy, CSRwire, Jawbone.tv, PSFK.com, Center for Conscious Creativity, Center for Digital Storytelling, Mother Nature Network, ThoughtLead, TalentZoo.com, and StoryRiver Media.