Derek Sivers is a musician. He loves making music, and he figured out a way to make a living making music. He played gigs all over the world; he primarily toured the US, but he found ways to play for people in different parts of the world. Life was good for Derek. During the late 1990’s, Derek got the brilliant idea of selling his CD’s online. He had a website, so all he needed to do was add a mechanism that allowed for people to place an order which he could then fulfill. Elementary today, not so much back in the day. “buy Now” buttons, e-shopping carts, online credit card processing…all of these things were novel back then. The short version is that Derek ploughed through the obstacles and put a system into place.
Something interesting and unexpected happened: a friend, also a musician, called Derek up and asked if Derek could sell his CD, too. Derek was happy enough to help his friend set up the same mechanism on his website, but the friend didn’t want to go through the hassle or incur the cost. He just wanted Derek to sell his CD…on Derek’s website. Derek agreed. Derek likes to help people. A few weeks later, another friend asked for the same favor. Derek agreed. Then another friend called. Then a complete stranger called. Then another called. Then another. And another. Derek agreed every time. He likes to help people. Derek’s living room became a small warehouse. Derek’s second “client” sent him an e-mail and asked, “How do I sign up for your ‘New Release’ newsletter?” Huh? “What do you mean?” he replied. “I don’t have a newsletter.” “Oh,” the gentleman replied, “I thought you had a store.” Hmm…
More interesting things happened to Derek as he went from one-man show to an 85-employee business called CDBaby.com. He eventually sold his business for $22 million. You can read about Derek’s story in “Anything You Want” which you can buy at Amazon.com.
Here’s what I think is the important part of Derek’s story: love what you do and love the people for whom you do it. If you can manage that, then you’re a step closer to Nirvana than the rest of us. I am far from that sacred place, but I see a path through the wilderness, and the path itself is a sliver of that Nirvana. Derek learned along his path that the journey itself is integral to maintaining presence in Nirvana. Derek lost that, and he sold his company when he understood that. He is back on the path, as I understand it, present, and loving the process.
No matter how you look at it, the path, Nirvana itself, is all about love.
Illuminate Possibilities 