## Nontrepeneur: Derek Sivers

[^note]: This essay is part of a series [on nontrepeneurship](/nontrepeneur).

Derek Sivers already wrote [the nontrepeneur's Bible](https://sive.rs/a). All
its chapters are [available online](https://sive.rs/a#:~:text=Contents), but I
highly recommend [purchasing a physical copy](https://sivers.com/?).

In the book, he describes his journey from clown to musician to nerd to CEO to
philanthropist to [whatever's he's doing now](https://sive.rs/now).

### Lesson: Growth vs. Tinkering

> It’s not that distributors were evil. It was just an awful system, and I
> wanted nothing to do with it.
>
> So when the big online record stores told me they couldn’t sell my CD
> directly, I thought, “Ah, screw it. I’ll just set up my own online store. How
> hard could it be?”
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/ayw3)

> The Programmers’ Credo: we do these things not because they are easy, but
> because we thought they were going to be easy
>
> -- unknown

I love pitching awful startup ideas to unsuspecting folks. It's hilarious
listening to strangers manufacture supportive things to say about a
"bluetooth-toilet-speaker slash IoT-bowel-movement-tracker slash party-light".

With the intrusion of [Shark Tank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Tank)
into the public consciousness, the crappy startup pitch is now maintstream.

I've identified three flavors of crappy business ideas:

- The Deluded Dreamer: "If I could convince an MIT grad to build me a
  teleportation device, I'd be worth billions..."
- The MBA Grad: "I wonder how long it would take to reach product-market-fit if
  I start with a double-sided spoon..."
- The Clueless Tinkerer: "I spent the past decade perfecting a 5-wheeled toy
  train that is incompatible with existing model rail gauges. I'm now ready to
  share it with the world..."

Unfortunately, I earnestly pursue all three kinds of crappy ideas on a daily
basis. My poor wife wastes countless hours tethering me to the dirt.

> For the first time in my life, I had made something that people really wanted.
>
> Before that, I had spent twelve years trying to promote my various projects.
> Trying every marketing approach. Networking, pitching, pushing. It always felt
> like an uphill battle, trying to open locked or slamming doors. I made
> progress, but only with massive effort.
>
> ...
>
> Once you’ve got a hit, suddenly all the locked doors open wide. People love
> the hit so much that it seems to promote itself. Instead of trying to create
> demand, you’re managing the huge demand.
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/hitswitch)

I should probably admit to myself that I'm allergic to the transfer of money and
that I have no idea what people like or want. With that in mind, are some things
that have worked for me lately:

- working from an ordered queue of project ideas
- prioritizing "2 week" projects that actually take 6 weeks; it's better than "6
  week" projects that take 8 months
- working in public (-ish)
- prioritizing projects with lots of "smiles per hour"
- estimating [cost-per-use](https://stephango.com/buy-wisely) from cost-to-build

These [practical principles](/pick-practical-principles) prevent me from sinking
decades into 5-wheeled trains.

### Lesson: Power vs. Resonsibility

> Then I realized that there’s such a thing as over-delegation. I had empowered
> my employees so much that I gave them all the power. After a complete
> communication breakdown, it was 85 people (my employees) against one (me). I
> became the scapegoat for all of their dissatisfactions.
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/abdicate)

> You’ll notice that as my company got bigger, my stories about it were less
> happy. That was my lesson learned. I’m happier with 5 employees than with 85,
> and happiest working alone.
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/ayw8)

A key trait of nontrepeneurs is the pursuit of freedom over power.

[With power comes responsibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility),
and exerting responsibility is no fun.

I love working with people, but I don't want the pressure to pay their bills. If
you feel the same, don't be afraid to become a
[one-person company](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28336318).

### Lesson: Hoards Profits vs. Shares Bounty

> The only business I’ve ever done is the co-op / sharing model. It goes like
> this:
>
> 1. You have something that people want. It might be something you own,
>    something you’ve learned how to do, or access to resources, space, or
>    people.
> 2. Find a way to share it with everyone who needs it. Not necessarily for
>    profit, but just because it’s what you’d do for friends, and it’s the right
>    thing to do.
> 3. If it takes some effort for you to share it, charge a little something for
>    your effort, to ensure that this giving can continue.
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/sharing)

> A few months before the sale, I transferred the ownership of CD Baby and
> HostBaby, all the intellectual property like trademarks and software, into the
> trust.
>
> It was irreversibly and irrevocably gone. It was no longer mine. It all
> belonged to the charitable trust.
>
> Then, when Disc Makers bought it, they bought it not from me but from the
> trust, turning it into $22 million cash to benefit music education.
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/trust)

> My business is set up so that not a single dollar ever comes to me. (It’s a
> C-corp owned by a foundation, so nothing flows through and I take no salary.)
> Whatever isn’t necessary for running the business (like paying for printing
> the next book) is given to whatever charity is saving the most lives.
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/575k)

When money is not your master, you can choose to share it and spend it however
you like.

Your excess materializes when you decide [enough](/enough) is enough.

### Lesson: Money vs. Time

> What would you do then, if you didn’t need the money and didn’t need the
> attention?
>
> -- [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/full)

Money can purchase time (with diminishing returns).

Nontrepeneurs prioritize play when they've accrued the means to stop working.
It's unclear why anybody would do otherwise.