Rework by Jason Fried and DHH in 6 minutes
A different kind of business book for different kinds of people
Learning from mistakes is overrated. Instead, learn from your successes. When something succeeds, you know what worked. Chances are, you’ll do it even better the next time.
Why grow? Ramping up doesn’t have to be your goal. Anyone who runs a business that’s sustainable and profitable, whether it’s big or small, should be proud.
Not only is workaholism unnecessary, it’s stupid. Workaholics aren’t heroes. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.
If you’re going to do something, do something that matters. This doesn’t mean you need to find a cure for cancer. You simply want your customers to say, “This makes my life better.”
Having a strong opinion is how you attract super fans. For everyone who loves you, there should be others who hate you. If no one’s upset by what you’re saying, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.
No matter what kind of business you’re starting, take on as little outside cash as you can. Spending other people’s money may sound great, but there are strings attached. You give up control; it’s usually a bad deal; customers move down the totem pole; and raising money is incredibly distracting.
Decide and move forward. Get into the rhythm of making choices. You will build momentum and boost morale. The problem comes when you postpone decisions in the hope that a perfect answer will come to you later. It won’t.
Ask yourself these questions to ensure you’re doing work that matters:
- Why are you doing this?
- What problem are you solving?
- Is this actually useful?
- Are you adding value?
- Is there an easier way?
- What could you be doing instead?
- Is it really worth it?
Momentum fuels motivation. If you aren’t motivated by what you’re working on, it won’t be very good. The way you build momentum is by getting something done and then moving on to the next thing. To keep your motivation and momentum up, get in the habit of accomplishing small victories along the way.
There’s a great way to protect yourself from copycats: inject what’s unique about the way you think into what you sell. Pour yourself into your product and everything around your product too: how you sell it, how you support it, how you explain it, and how you deliver it. Competitors can never copy the you in your product.
If you think a competitor sucks, say so. When you do that, you’ll find that others who agree with you will rally to your side. Taking a stand always stands out. Passions are ignited and that’s a good way to get people to take notice.
Do less than your competitors to beat them. Solve the simple problems and leave the hairy, difficult, nasty problem to the competition. Don’t shy away from the fact that your product or service does less. Sell it as aggressively as competitors sell their extensive feature lists.
Being obscure is a great position to be in. Keep tweaking, work out the kinks, test random ideas, and try new things. No one knows you, so it’s no big deal if you mess up. It makes no sense to tell everyone to look at you if you’re not ready to be looked at. Now is the time to take risks without worrying about em brass asking yourself.
Build an audience. An audience returns often — on its own — to see what you have to say. If they like what you have to say, they’ll probably also like what you have to sell. Share information that’s valuable and you’ll slowly but surely build a loyal audience. Then when you need to get the word out, the right people will already be listening.
Press releases are spam. Instead, call someone or write a personal note. If you read a story about a similar company or product, contact the journalist who wrote it. Forget about the Wall Street Journal. You’re better off focusing on getting your story picked up by a niche blogger. These writers thrive on being a tastemaker, finding the new thing, and getting the ball rolling. Pitch them with some passion, some interest, some life. Stand out and be unforgettable. That’s how you’ll get the best coverage.
Make your product so good, so addictive, so “can’t miss” that giving customers a small free taste makes them come back with cash in hand. Create an easily digestible introduction to what you sell that gives people a way to try without investing any money or a lot of time. Create a strong enough product that you’re confident that people will come back for more.
Everything is marketing:
- Every time you answer the phone, it’s marketing.
- Every time you send an email, its marketing.
- Every time someone uses your website, it’s marketing.
- Every word you write on your web site is marketing.
- Marketing is the sum total of everything you do.
Never hire anyone to do a job until you’ve tried to do it yourself first. You can hire your way out of problems but try learning first. Don’t hire for pleasure, hire to kill pain. The right time to hire is when there’s more work than you can handle for a sustained period of time.
Remember three things when hiring: (1) resumes are ridiculous, (2) years of experience is irrelevant, and (3) forget about formal education. Look at the cover letter to hear someone’s actual voice and recognize if it’s in tune with you and your company. There’s surprisingly little difference between a candidate with six months of experience and one with six years. The pool of great candidates is far bigger than just people who graduated college with a stellar GPA. The real difference comes from the individual’s dedication, personality and intelligence.
Don’t hire delegators. hire managers of one. With a small team, everyone’s got to be getting real work done. Managers of one are people who come up with their own goals and execute on them. You want someone who’s capable of building something from scratch and seeing it through.
If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer. That’s because clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. Writing is today’s currency for good ideas.
Culture is the byproduct of consistent behaviour. If you encourage people to share, then sharing will be built into your culture. If you reward trust, then trust will be built in. If you treat your customers right, then treating customers right becomes your culture.
Optimize for now and worry about the future later. At an early stage, it’s silly to worry about whether or not your concept will scale from one thousand to on hundred thousand people. The ability to change course is one of the big advantages of being small so pay attention to today and worry about later when it gets here.
You don’t need more hours, you need better hours. You’re not going to get the full 8–10–14 hours a day out of people anyway.
Inspiration has an expiration date. If you want to do something, do it now. If you’re inspired on a Friday, swear off the weekend and dive into the project. When you’re high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in twenty-four hours. Inspiration is a magical thing, it’s a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.
If you like these notes, do buy the book on Amazon. If you want to be a highlighting hero, send your book notes to blake@talkpluto.com.
My name is Blake, I live in Toronto, Canada and I’m working on Pluto.
