by Jason Fried.

Takedown

Ignore the real world

The real world isn’t a place, it’s an excuse. It’s a justification for not trying. It has nothing to do with you.

Learning from mistakes is overrated

Failure is not a prerequisite for success.

People who failed have the same amount of success as people who have never tried at all.

Long term business planing is fantasy.

Start referring to any of your plans as guesses.

You have to be able to improvise. You have to be able to pick opportunities as they come along.

If you write a big plan, you’ll most likely never look at it anyway. Plans more than a few pages long just wind up as fossils in your file cabinet.

Why grow?

Don’t make assumptions about how big you should be ahead of time. Grow slow and see what feels right - premature hiring is the death of many companies.

Workaholism

Workaholics wind up creating more problems than they solve. (Just another addiction).

Fixing problems by throwing sheer hours at them -> inelegant solutions; crises.

In the end, workaholics don’t actually accomplish more than non-workaholics.

The real hero is already home because she’s figured out a faster way to get things done.

Enough with “entrepreneurs”

Anyone who creates a new business is a starter. Be a starter.

You need an idea, a touch of confidence and a push to get started. Not MBA, certificate, fancy suit etc.

Go

Make a dent in the universe

To do great work, you need to feel that you’re making a difference.

You’d feel an urgency about this too.

If you are going to do something, do something that matters. Examples: Craiglist, Drudge Report (simple webpage).

Scratch your own itch

The easiest, most straightforward way to create great product or service is to make something you want to use.

When you build what you need, you can also assess the quality of what you make quickly and directly, instead of by proxy.

This “solve your own problem” approach lets you fall in love with what you’re making.

Start making something

What you do is what matters, not what you plan or what you think or say.

No time is no excuse

Squeeze out a few extra hours per week. Once you do that, you’ll learn whether your excitement and interest is real or juts a passing phase.

Besides, perfect time never arrives.

Draw a line in the sand

Great business have a point of view, not just a product or service. You have to believe in something. You need to have a backbone. You need to know what you’re willing to fight for. And then you need to show the world.

Strong opinions aren’t free. You’ll turn some people off. They’ll accuse you of being arrogant and aloof.

Mission statement impossible

Live it or leave it!

Outside money is Plan Z

You give up control.

Seeking funding is difficult and draining. It takes months of pitch meetings, legal manoeuvrings, contracts etc. That’s an enormous distraction when you really should be focused on building something great.

You need less than you think

Great companies start in garages all the time.

Start a business, not a startup

Every business, new or old, is governed by the same set of market forces and economic rules. Revenue in, expenses out. Turn a profit or wind up gone.

A business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.

Building to flip is building to flop

You need a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy. You’d be thinking about how to make your project grow and succeed, not how you’re going to jump the ship.

Less mass

The more massive an object, the more energy is required to change its direction. Huge organizations can take years to pivot.

Think about: long term contracts, excess staff, permanent decisions, inventory, meeting, thick processes, long term road plans, office politics…

Progress

Embrace constraints

Stop whining. Less is a good thing. Constraints are advantages in disguise. Limited resources force you to make do with what you’ve got. There is no room for waste. And that forces you to be creative.

Build half a product, not a half-assed product

You’ve limited time, resources, ability and focus. So sacrifice some of your darlings for the greater good.

You’re better off with a kick-ass half than a half-assed whole

Start chopping. Get to a great start by cutting out stuff that’s merely good.

Start at the epicenter

When you start anything new, there are forces pulling you in a variety of directions. There’s stuff you could do, there’s stuff you want to do and there’s stuff you have to do. The stuff that you have to do is where you should begin. Start at the epicenter. Everything else is secondary.

Figure out your epicenter. Which parts of the equation cannot be removed? Then focus all your energy on making it the best it can be.

Ignore the details early on

When we start designing something, we sketch out ideas with a big, thick Sharpie marker, instead of a ballpoint pen. Pen points are too fine.

The big picture is all you should be worrying about in the beginning.

Making the call is making progress

Commit to making decisions. Don’t wait for the perfect solution.

You don’t have to live with a decision forever. If you make a mistake, you can correct it later.

Long projects zap morale.

Be a curator

Constantly look for things to remove, simplify and streamline.

It’s not about packaging, marketing, or price. It’s about quality.

Throw less at the problem

You’ll be forced to make tough calls and sort out what truly matters.

If you start pushing back deadlines and increasing your budget, you’ll never stop.

Focus on what won’t change

A lot of companies focus on the next big thing. You start focusing on fashion instead of substance.

The core of your business should be built around things that won’t change. Things that people are going to want today and ten years from now. Those are the things you’d invest in.

Tone is in your fingers

People use equipment as a crutch. They don’t want to put in the hours in the driving range so they spend a ton in the pro shop. They’re looking for a shortcut.

Use whatever you’ve got already or can afford cheaply. Then go. Its not the gear that matters.

Sell your by-products

You can’t make just one thing.

Henry Ford learned a process for turning wood scraps form the production of Model T’s into charcoal briquets. He built a charcoal plant and Ford Charcoal was created (later renamed to Kingsford Charcoal. Today, Kingford is still the leading manufacturer of charcoal in America.

Launch now

Get it out there!

Don’t mistake this approach for skimping on quality.

Productivity

Illusions of agreement

The problem with abstractions (like reports and documents) is that they create illusions of agreement. A hundred people can read the same words, but in their heads, they’re imagining a hundred different things.

Get the chisel out and start making something real. Anything else is just a distraction.

Reasons to quit

• Why are you doing this?
• What problem are you solving?
• Is this actually useful?
• Are you adding value?
• Will this change behaviour?
• Is there an easier way?
• What could you be doing instead?
• Is it really worth it?

Keep asking yourself (and others) the questions listed above. You don’t need to make it a formal process, but don’t let it slide either.

Sometimes abandoning what you’re working on is the right move, even if you’ve already put in a lot of effort. Don’t throw good time after bad work.

Interruption is the enemy of productivity

Interruption is not collaboration, it’s just interruption. And when you’re interrupted, you’re not getting work done.

Any interruptions for you to start over.

Make the first or last half of the day your alone-time period. Or instead of casual Fridays, try no-talk Thursdays.

Meetings

The worst interruptions are meetings.

Meetings procreate. One meeting leads to another meeting leads to another …

Good enough is fine

Find a judo solution, that delivers maximum efficiency with a minimum effort.

Quick wins

Momentum fuels motivation.

If you absolutely have to work on long-term projects, try to dedicate one day a week (or every two weeks) to small victories to generate enthusiasm. Small victories let you celebrate and release good news.

Don’t be a hero

People automatically associate quitting with failure, but sometimes that’s exactly what you should do.

The worst thing you can do is waste even more time.

Go to sleep

Stubbornness.

Creativity is one of the first things to go when you lose sleep.

Diminished morale: when your brain isn’t firing on all cylinders, it loves to feed on less demanding tasks.

Irritability.

Your estimates suck

Break the big thing into smaller things. The smaller it is, the easier it is to estimate.

Long lists don’t get done

Long lists are guilt trips. The longer the list of unfinished items, the worse you feel about it.

Prioritize visually. Put the most important thing at the top.

Make tiny big decisions.

Big decisions are hard to make and hard to change.

Attainable goals are best ones to have.

Competitors

Don’t copy

The problem with this sort of copying is it skips understanding - and understanding is how you grow.

If you’re a copycat, you can never keep up.

Decommoditize your product

Make it something no one else can offer.

Zappos.com. A pair of sneakers from Zappos is the same as a pair from Foot Locker or any other retailer. But Zappos sets itself apart by injecting CEO Tony Hsieh’s obsession with customer service into everything it does.

Pick a fight

If you think a competitor sucks, say so. Being the anti-XXX is a great way to differentiate yourself and attract followers.

Having an enemy gives you a great story to tell your customers, too.

Underdo your competition

The Flip wins fans because it only does a few simple things and does them well. It’s easy and fun to use.

Don’t shy away from the fact that your product or service does less. Highlight it. Be proud of it.

Who cars what they’re doing?

The competitive landscape changes all the time.

Focus on competitors too much and you wind up diluting your own vision. You become reactionary instead of visionary.

If you’re planing the build “iPod killer” or “the next Pokemon”, you’re already dead. You’re allowing the competition to set the parameters. You’re not going to out-Apple Apple. They’re defining the rules of the game. And you can’t beat someone who’s making the rules

Focus on you, instead of they.

Evolution

Say no by default

If I’d listened to customers, I’d have given them a faster horse. – Henry Ford

People avoid saying no because confrontation makes them uncomfortable.

Making a few vocal customers happy isn’t worth it if it ruins the product for everyone else.

Don’t be a jerk about saying no, though. Just be honest. If you are not willing to yield to a customer request, be polite and explain why. People are surprisingly understanding when you take the time to explain them your point of view. You may even win them over to your way of thinking.

Let your customers outgrow you

Your product or service becomes so tailored to your current customers that it stops appealing to fresh blood. And that’s how your company starts to die.

Adding power-user features to satisfy some can intimidate those who aren’t on board yet. Scaring away new customers is worse than losing old customers.

Companies need to be ture to a type of customer more than a specific individual customer with changing needs.

Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority

Let your latest gard ideas cool off for a while first. Just don’t act in the head of the moment. Write them down and park them for a few days. Then, evaluate their actual priority with a calm mind.

Welcome obscurity

Being obscure is a great position to be in. Be happy in the shadows.

Use this time to make mistakes without the whole world hearing about them. Obscurity helps protect your ego and preserve your confidence.

If a millions people are using your product, every change will have much bigger impact. You can reason with a hundred people, but you need riot gear to deal with ten thousand angry customers.

Build an audience

All companies have customers. Lucky companies have fans. Most fortunate companies have audiences.

When you build an audience, you don’t have to buy people’s attention - they give it to you.

Speak, write, blog, tweet, make vides … whatever.

Out-teach your competition

Reach people by teaching them.

Teaching is something individuals and small companies can do that bigger competitors can’t. Bug companies can afford a Super Bowl ad; you can’t

Emulate chefs

They share everything they know. They put their recipes in cookbooks and show their techniques on cooking show.

As a business owner, you should share everything you know too. A recipe is much easier to copy than a business.

Go behind the scenes

Letting people behind the curtain changes your relationship with them. They’ll feel a bond with you and see you as human beings instead of faceless company.

Nobody likes plastic flowers

Wabi-Sabi

Strip things down and then use what you have.

Keep things clean an unencumbered but don’t sterilize.

Leave the poetry in what you make.

Press releases are spam

If you want to get someone’s attention, it’s silly to do exactly the same thing as everyone else.

Instead, call someone. Write a personal note…

Forget the Wall Street Journal

Niche media over mass media.

You’re better off focusing on getting your story into a trade publication or picked up by a niche blogger.

Drug dealers get it right

Make your product so good, so addictive, so “can’t miss” that giving customers a small, free takes makes them come back with cash in hand.

You want an easily digestible introduction of what you sell. That gives people a way to try it without investing any money or a lot of time.

Marketing is not a department

Accounting is a department. Marketing isn’t.

Everything is marketing.

The myth of the overnight sensation

You will not get rich quick. You nore not so special that everyone will instantly pay attention. No one cares about you. At least not yet. Get used to it.

Hiring

Do it yourself first

Never hire anyone to do a job until you’ve tried to do it yourself. That way, you’ll understand the nature of the work. You’ll know what a job well done looks like.

Plus, you’d want to be intimately involved in all aspects of your business. Otherwise you’ll wind up in the dark, putting your fate solely in the hands of others.

Hire when it hurts

Don’t hire for pleasure; hire to kill pain.

Similarly, if you los someone, don’t replace him immediately. See how long you can get without that person and that position.

You’re hurting when you notice the level of quality slipping. That’s when there is time to hire. Not earlier.

Pass on great people

Pass on hiring people you don’t need, even if you think that person is a great catch.

You’ll be doing your company more harm than good if you bring talented people who have nothing important to do.

Strangers at a cocktail party

You need an environment where everyone feels save enough to be honest when things get tough.

Resumes are ridiculous

Trust your gut reaction. If the first paragraph sucks, the second has to work much harder. If there’s no hook in the first three, it’s unlikely there is match there.

Years of irrelevance

There’s surprisingly little difference between a candidate with six months experience and one with six years. The real difference comes from the individual’s dedication, personality, and intelligence.

Forget about formal education

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. – Mark Twain.

Ninety percent of CEOs currently heading the top five hundred American companies did not receive undergraduate degrees from Ivy League colleges.

Consider dropouts, people who had low GPAs, community-college students, even even those who just went to high school.

Everyone works

With a small team, you need people who are going to do work, not delegate work.

Hire managers of one

Managers of one ar people who come up with their own goals and execute them. They don’t need heavy direction. They don’t need daily check-ins. They do what a manager would do - set the tone, assign items, determine what needs to get done, etc. but they do it by themselves and for themselves.

You want someone who’s capable of building something from scratch and seeing it through.

Hire great writers

If you are tyring to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer.

Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking.

Writing is today’s currency for good ideas.

The best are everywhere

Think and hire globally.

Two to four hours overlap should be plenty.

Every once in a while meet in person. Make sure the whole team gets together a few times a year.

Test-drive employees

The best way to do that is actually to seem them work. Hire them for a mini project, even if it’s just for twenty or forty hours.

You can even make up a fake project.

Damage Control

Own your bad news

When something goes wrong, someone is going to tell the story. They’ll post about it online and everyone will know. There are no more secrets.

“No comment” is not an option.

Apologize the way a real person would and explain what happened in detail.

Speed changes everything

Getting back to people quickly is probably the most important thing you can do when it comes to customer service. It’s amazing how much that can defuse a bad situation and turn into a good one.

Once you answer quickly, the shift 180 degrees. They become extra polite. Often they tank you profusely. This is especially true if you write a personal resposne.

“Let me do some research and get back to you” can work wonders.

How to say you’re sorry

There’s never really a great way to say you’re sorry, but there are pleny of terrible ways.

A good apology accepts responsibility. It hand no conditional if phrase attached.

An “I” apology is stronger than a “we” apology.

Put everyone on the front lines

The more people you have between your customer’s words and the people doing the work, the more likely it is that the message will get lost or distorted along the way.

Everyone on the team should be connected to your customers.

If you think you have no time to interact with customers, then make time.

Take a deep breath

Resist the urge to panic or make rapid changes in response.

People often respond before they give a change a fair chance.

Culture

You don’t create a culture. It happens. That’s why new companies don’t have a culture.

Culture is in action, not in words.

Decisions are temporary

Skip the rock stars

A lot of companies post ads seeking “rock stars” or “ninjas”. Lame.

Build a rockstar environment. Cut the crap and find out that people are waiting to do great work. They just need to be given the chance.

They’re not thirteen

When you treat people like children, you get children’s work.

Send people home at 5

Talk to customers the way you would to friends. Explain things as if you were sitting next to them. Avoid jargon or any sort of corporate-speak. Stay way from buzzwords when normal words will do just fine.

Write to be read, don’t write just to write.

Four letter words

There are four-letter words you should never use in business. need, must, can’t, easy, just, only and fast. These words get in the way of healthy communication. They are red flags that introduce animosity, torpedo good discussions, and cause project to be late.

*Also watch out for the cousins everyone, no one, always and never

ASAP is poison

Conclusion

Inspiration is perishable

If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now. You can’t put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it.

When you’re high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in 24h