Summary of Derek Sivers's Anything You Want

In Anything You Want (2011), Derek Sivers shares his own unconventional experience of being a business owner. He delivers small biographical anecdotes about how a hobby turned into a million-dollar success story. He started CD Baby, an online store, as an outlet to sell his own CD after being turned down by major distributors. He built the store from scratch and had to learn advanced programming on his own. When friends started asking him to put their own CDs on his store, he was happy to oblige—and that’s how it all started.

Derek’s strategies and philosophy go against the traditional way of running a company. He did not want to grow big, he did not follow any grand business plan, and he never aimed for profitability—he only wanted to do what made him happy.