Want to learn the ideas in Anything You Want better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Anything You Want by Derek Sivers here.

Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.

Video Summaries of Anything You Want

We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on Anything You Want, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Derek Sivers.

1-Page Summary of Anything You Want

Overview

You should be true to yourself, but you should also be flexible. You need a business plan that investors will believe in, but you shouldn’t overcomplicate it. Delegate tasks, but don’t delegate too much.

Maybe you’ve already struggled with balancing your family and work life. Maybe you’re feeling pretty lost, so I’m going to give some advice on how to make it all balance.

In Anything You Want, author Derek Sivers will give you all the tools you need to start a business. He’ll tell his own story and help you figure out how to make your business successful.

In this article, you’ll learn that it’s not necessary to have a lot of money in order to start your own business. You’ll also find out when delegation is good and when it’s too much. Finally, the author will explain why he refuses to work with some musicians.

Big Idea #1: Starting a successful business means striving to improve your ideas while keeping it simple.

When the author started out in business, he didn’t plan on founding CD Baby, an online independent music store. In fact, he attempted other businesses that ended up failing.

So, what made this one work?

A key step to success is improving your ideas. The more you improve them, the higher the chances are that you’ll come up with a successful one. If your idea isn’t popular or hasn’t gained any traction after years of trying, it might be time to let go of it and work on something else instead.

Instead of focusing on getting a perfect idea, you should keep trying new things and improving your ideas. If you do that, it’s likely that one of your ideas will catch fire with people. The author was surprised when his idea took off among his musician friends; however, he had worked hard to create something that would help both himself and others.

Ideas are great, but they need to be fleshed out and made into a business plan. This doesn’t have to be a 100-page document with financial projections for the next 20 years. It should just lay out how your company will work and how much money it’ll take to make it happen.

The most important thing to remember in your business plan is that you need to make it logical and easy for people to understand. This will help them believe in your idea. You don’t have to use complicated figures, as long as you explain how the money will come in and what you’ll do with it once it does.

For example, when the author first started CD Baby, he only used two numbers to make his business plan: how much it would cost musicians to list their CDs on the site and how much they would earn from each sale. These simple figures were enough for him to predict whether or not he could succeed with his business idea.

Big Idea #2: Define your target audiences and tailor your business to their needs.

It might be hard to decide who your target audience is, but it’s important to identify one. You should create many smaller groups of customers rather than just one big group, so that you can adapt and make changes as needed. For example, if you’re creating a product for a single client and she doesn’t like something about it, then every decision will have to be based on her thoughts and opinions.

But what if she changes her mind and decides not to buy your product? You’ll be in trouble because you put the needs of one client above all others. It’s better to work out which group is most important, how you can satisfy their needs, and then be flexible enough to handle a change of heart or direction. By doing so, you’ll have more independence and flexibility when one client moves on. As a bonus, you’ll also get hundreds of opinions guiding your strategy instead of just one person’s opinion. In any case, it doesn’t matter whether someone likes your product or service; it only matters that they’re satisfied with it once they’ve bought it.