Posts Tagged: "CD Baby"

Lent Day 8… Like A Coke Machine In A Monastery

Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby, once wrote about why he refused to sell advertising on his website. Here’s what he had to say:

I got a call from an advertising salesman, saying he’d like to run banner ads at the top and bottom of cdbaby.com.

I said, “No way. Out of the question. That would be like putting a coke machine in a monastery. I’m not doing this to make money.”

He asked, “But you’re a business. What do you mean you’re not trying to make money?”

I said, “I’m just trying to… Read More

Just Stay Focused On Helping People Today

It is the meek, not the aggressive, pushy, big, entrepreneurial earth-shakers, who are the real hope of the earth. —Pete Scazzero

When Derek Sivers started CD Baby, he wasn’t planning on building a major business. He was a professional musician who just wanted to sell his CDs online. He started in 1998 by helping his friends sell their CDs too. In 2000, he hired his first employee. Eight years later, he sold CD Baby for $22 million.

Sivers didn’t need a business plan, and neither do you. You don’t need to think big; it’s better if you don’t.

Here’s what Derek Sivers says…

Do you have a big visionary master plan for how the world will work in twenty years? Do you have massive ambitions to revolutionize your industry?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t. I never did.

A year and a half after after starting CD Baby, it was just me and… Read More