Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you’re looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.
Rework shows you a better, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you’ll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don’t need to be a workaholic. You don’t need to staff up. You don’t need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don’t even need an office. Those are all just excuses.
Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own.
First, we’ll start out by gutting business. We’ll take it down to the studs and explain why it’s time to throw out the traditional notions of what it takes to run a business. Then we’ll rebuild it. You’ll learn how to begin, why you need less than you think, when to launch, how to get the word out, whom (and when) to hire, and how to keep it all under control.
The New Reality
This is a different kind of business book for different kinds of people – from those who have never dreamed of starting a business to those who already have a successful company up and running. It’s for hard-core entrepreneurs, the Type A go-getter of the business world. It’s also for less intense small-business owners. It’s even for people such in day jobs who have always dreamed about doing their own thing. Finally, it’s for all those people who’ve never considered going out on their own and starting a business.
There’s a new reality. Today, anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that cost thousands is now just a few bucks or even free. One person can do the job of two or three, or, in some cases, an entire department. Stuff that was impossible a few years ago is simple today.
Take Downs
Ignore the real world
“That would never work in the real world.”
You hear it all the time when you tell people about a fresh idea. Scratch the surface and you’ll find these “real world” inhabitants are filled with pessimism and despair. They expect fresh concepts to fail. If you’re hopeful and ambitious, they’ll try to convince you your ideas are impossible.
Don’t believe them. That world may be real for them, but it doesn’t mean you have to live in it.
Failure is not a right of passage
Learning from mistakes is overrated. People advise, “Fail early and fail often.” If other people can’t market their product, it has nothing to do with you. If other people can’t build a team, it has nothing to do with you. If other people. If other people can’t price their services properly, it has nothing to do with you. Another common misconception: You need to learn from your mistakes. What do you really learn from your mistakes? You might learn what not to do again, but how valuable is that?
Contrast that with learning from your successes. When something succeeds – you know what worked – and you can do it again. And the next time, you’ll probably do it even better. Evolution doesn’t linger on past failures, it’s always building upon what worked. So should you.
Planning is guessing
Long-term business planning is a fantasy. Why don’t we call plans what they really are: guesses. Start referring to your business plans as business guesses, and your financial plans as financial guesses, and strategic plans as strategic guesses. Now you can stop worrying about them as much. They just aren’t worth the stress.
Plans are inconsistent with improvisation. And you have to be able to improvise. You have to be able to pick up opportunities as they come along.
Grow, why?
What’s wrong with finding the right size and staying there? Don’t make assumptions about how big you should be ahead of time. Grow slow and see what feels right — prematurely hiring is the death of many companies. And avoid huge growth spurts too — they can cause you to skip right over your appropriate size.
Small is not just a stepping-store. Small is a great destination in itself. Ramping up doesn’t have to be your goal. Don’t be insecure about aiming to be a small business. Anyone who runs a business that’s sustainable and profitable, whether it’s big or small, should be proud.
Workaholism
Working more doesn’t mean you care more or get more done. It just means you work more. Working like that just isn’t sustainable over time. When the burnout crash comes – and it will – it’ll hit much harder. They don’t look for ways to be more efficient because they actually like working overtime. They enjoy feeling like heroes. They create problems just so they can get off on working more. In the end, workaholics don’t actually accomplish more than non-workaholics. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.
Be a starter
Enough with entrepreneurs. It smells like a members-only club. Everyone should be encouraged to start his own business, not just some rare breed that self-identifies as entrepreneurs.
There’s a new group of people out there starting businesses. They’re turning profits yet never think of themselves as entrepreneurs.
So let’s replace the fancy-sounding word with something a bit more down-to-earth. Instead, let’s just call them starters. Anyone who creates a new business is a starter. You don’t need an MBA, a certificate, a fancy suit, a briefcase, or an above-average tolerance for risk. You just need an idea, a touch of confidence, and a push to get started.
Make a dent in the universe
To do great work, you need to feel that you’re making a difference. That you’re putting a meaningful dent in the universe. You should feel an urgency about this too. You don’t have forever. This is your life’s work. Do you want to build just another me-too product or do you want to shake things up?
What you do is your legacy. Don’t sit around and wait for someone else to make the change you want to see. And don’t think it takes a huge team to make that difference either. If you’re going to do something, do something that matters.
Scratch your own itch
The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use. That lets you design what you know- and you’ll figure out immediately whether or not what you’re making is any good. Best of all, this “solve your own problem” approach lets you fall in love with what you’re making.
Start making something
What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan. Until you actually start making something, your brilliant idea is just that, an idea. And everyone’s got one of those.
Ideas are cheap and plentiful. The original pitch ideas are such a small part of a business that it’s almost negligible. The real question is how well you execute.
No time is no excuse
The most common excuse people give: “There’s not enough time.” They claim they’d love to start a company, learn an instrument, market an invention, write a book, or whatever, but there’s just aren’t enough hours in the day.
There’s always enough time if you spend it right. And don’t think you have to quit your day job either. Hang onto it and start working on your project at night. Besides, the perfect time never arrives. You’re always too young or old or busy or broke or something else. If you constantly fret about timing things perfectly, they’ll never happen.
Draw a line in the sand
As you get going, keep in mind why you’re doing what you’re doing. Great businesses have a point of view, not just a product or service. You need to have a backbone. You need to know what you’re willing to fight for. And then you need to show the world.
They point to you and defend you. Strong opinions aren’t free. You’ll turn some people off. If no one’s upset by what you’re saying, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.
When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.
Mission statement impossible
There’s a world difference between truly standing for something and having a mission statement that says you stand for something. You know, those “providing the best service” signs that are created just to be posted on a wall. The ones that sound phony and disconnected from reality.
It’s like when you’re on hold and a recorded voice comes on telling you how much the company values you as a customer. Really? I know the difference between genuine affection and a robot that’s programmed to say nice things.
Standing for something isn’t just about writing it down. It’s about believing it and living it.
Outside money is Plan Z
One of the first questions you’ll probably ask: Where’s the seed money going to come from? Far too often, people think the answer is to raise money from outsiders. If you’re building something like a factory or restaurant, then you may need that outside cash. But a lot of companies don’t need expensive infrastructure.
Spending other people’s money may sound great, but there’s a noose attached. Here’s why:
You give up control.
Cashing out begins to trump building a quality business.
Spending other people’s money is addictive.
It’s usually a bad deal.
Customers move down to the totem pole.
Raising money is incredibly distracting.
You need less than you think
Do you really need ten people or will two or three do for now? Do you really need a big office or can you share office space for a while? Do you really need an accountant or can you use Quicken and do it yourself? Do you really need an IT department or can you outsource it?
There’s nothing wrong with being frugal. Great companies start in garages all the time. Yours can too.
Start a business, not a startup
Ah, the startup. It’s a special breed of company that gets a lot of attention (especially in the tech world).
A startup is a magical place. It’s a place where expenses are someone else’s problem. It’s a place where that pesky thing called revenue is never an issue. It’s a place where you can spend other people’s money until you figure out a way to make your own. It’s a place where the laws of business physics don’t apply.
The problem with this magical place is it’s a fairy tale. The truth is every business, new or old, is governed by the same set of market forces and economic rules. revenue in expenses out. Turn a profit or wind up going.
Startups try to ignore this reality. A business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.
So don’t use the idea of a startup as a crutch. Instead, start an actual business. Actual businesses have to deal with actual things like bills and payroll. Actual businesses worry about profit from day one. Actual businesses don’t mask deep problems by saying, “it’s OK, we’re a startup.” Act like an actual business and you’ll have a much better shot at succeeding.
Building to flip is building to flop
Would you go into a relationship planning the breakup? You need a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy. You should be thinking about how to make your project grow and succeed, not how you’re going to jump ship. If your whole strategy is based on leaving, chances are you won’t get far in the first place.
You see so many aspiring businesspeople pinning their hopes on selling out. But the odds are getting acquired are so tiny. Instead of focusing on getting customers to love you, you worry about who’s going to buy you. That’s the wrong thing to obsess over.
Don’t let your business be the one that got away.
Less mass
Embrace the idea of having less mass. Right now, you’re the smallest, the leanest, and the fastest you’ll ever be. From here on out, you’ll start accumulating mass. And the more massive an object, the more energy required to change its direction. Mass is increased by Long-term contracts, Excess staff, Permanent decisions, Meetings, Thick process, Inventory, Hardware/Software, Long-term road maps, Office politics…
Avoid these things whenever you can. That way, you’ll be able to change direction easily. The more expensive it is to make a change, the less likely you are to make it.
Embrace constraints
“I don’t have enough time/money/people/experience.” Stop whining. Less is a good thing. Constraints are advantages in disguise. Limited resources force you to make do with what you’ve got. There’s no room for waste. And that forces you to be creative.
Build half a product, not a half-assed product
You can turn a bunch of great ideas into a crappy product real fast by trying to do them all at once. You just can’t do everything you want to do and do it well. You have limited time, resources, ability, and focus.
So sacrifice some of your darlings for the greater good. Cut your ambition in half. Lots of things get better as they get shorter.
Start at the epicenter
The stuff you have to do is where you should begin. Start at the epicenter. The way at the epicenter is to ask yourself this question: “If I took this away, would what I’m selling still exist?” A hot dog stand isn’t a hot dog without the hot dogs. Some people may not like your toppings-less dogs, but you’ll still have a hot dog stand. But you simply cannot have a hot dog stand without any hot dogs.
So figure out your epicenter. Which part of your equation can’t be removed? If you can continue to get by without this thing or that thing, then those things aren’t the epicenter. When you find it, you’ll know.
Ignore the details early on
You often can’t recognize the details that matter most until after you start building. That’s when you see what needs more attention. You feel what’s missing. And that’s when you need to pay attention, not sooner.
Making the call is making progress
When you put off decisions, they pile up. And piles end up ignored, dealt with in haste, or thrown out. As a result, the individual problems in those piles stay unresolved.
Decisions are progress. Each one you make is a brick in your foundation. You can’t build on top of “We’ll decide later,” but you can build on top of “Done”.
Be a curator
You don’t make a great museum by putting all the art in the world into a single room. What makes a museum great is stuff that’s not in the walls. Someone says no. There’ an editing process. The best is a subset of all the possibilities.
Throw less at the problem
When things aren’t working, the natural inclination is to throw more at the problem. All that ends up doing is making the problem bigger. The right way to go in the opposite direction: Cut back.
So do less. Your project won’t suffer nearly as much as you fear. In fact, there’s a good chance it’ll end up even better. You’ll be forced to make tough calls and sort out what truly matters.
Focus on what won’t change
A lot of companies focus on the next big thing. They latch on what’s hot and new. They follow the latest trends and technology.
That’s a fool’s path. You start focusing on fashion instead of substance. The core of your business should be built around things that won’t change. Things that people are going to want today and ten years from now. Those are the things you should invest in.
The tone is in your fingers
Guitar gurus say, “Tone is in your fingers.” You can buy the same guitar, effects pedals, and amplifier that Eddie Van Halen uses. But when you play that rig, it’s still going to sound like you.
Many amateurs golfers think they need expensive clubs. But it’s the swing that matters, not the club.
Sell your by-products
When you make something, you always make something else. Everything has a by-product. Observant and creative business minds spot these by-products and see opportunities.
Launch now
Once your product does what it needs to do, get it out there. When you impose a deadline, you gain clarity. Put off anything you don’t need to launch. Build the necessities now, worry about the luxuries later. If you really think about it, there’s a whole lot you don’t need on day one.
Illusions of agreement
The business world is littered with dead documents that do nothing but waste people’s time. If you need to explain something, try getting real with it.
The problem with abstraction is that they create illusions of agreement. A hundred people can read the same words, but in their heads, they’re imagining a hundred different things. That’s why you want to get to something real right away. That’s when you get a true understanding.
Reasons to quit
It’s easy to put your head down and just work on what you think needs to be done. It’s a lot harder to pull your head up and ask why Here are some important questions to ask yourself to ensure you’re doing work that matters.
Why are you doing this? What problems are you solving? Is this actually useful? Are you adding value? Will this change behavior? Is there an easier way? What could you be doing instead? Is it really worth it?
Interruption is the enemy of productivity
If you’re constantly staying late and working weekends, it’s not because there’s too much work to be done. It’s because you’re not getting enough done at work. And the reason is interruptions.
Interruptions break your workday into a series of work moments. Forty-five minutes and then you have a call. Fifteen minutes and then you have lunch. An hour later, you have an afternoon meeting. Before you know it, it’s five o’clock, and you’ve only had a couple of uninterrupted hours to get your work done. You can’t get meaningful things done when you’re constantly going start, stop, start.
Getting into the zone takes time and requires avoiding interruptions.
Meetings are toxic
The worst interruptions of all are meetings. When you think about it, the true cost of meetings is staggering. Let’s say you’re going to invite ten people to attend. That’s actually a ten-hour meeting, not a one-hour meeting. You’re trading ten hours of productivity for one hour of meeting time.
Is it ever OK to trade ten or fifteen hours of productivity for one hour of the meeting?
Good enough is fine
A lot of people get off on solving problems with complicated solutions. Flexing your intellectual muscles can be intoxicating. Then you start looking for another big challenge that gives you that same rush, regardless of whether it’s a good idea or not.
A better idea: Find a judo solution, one that delivers maximum efficiency with minimum effort. Judo solutions are all about getting the most out of doing the least. Whenever you face an obstacle, look for a way to judo it.
Quick wins
Momentum fuels motivation. It keeps you going. It drives you. Without you, you can’t go anywhere. 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. No one likes to be stuck on an endless project with no finish line in sight. Eventually, it just burns you out.
The longer something takes, the less likely it is that you’re going to finish it. If you absolutely have to work on long-term projects, try to dedicate one day a week to small victories that generate enthusiasm.
Don’t be a hero
A lot of times it’s better to be a quitter than a hero. People automatically associate quitting with failure, but sometimes that’s exactly what you should do. If you already spend too much time on something that wasn’t worth it, walk away. You can’t get that time back. The worst thing you can do now is waste even more time.
Go to sleep
Forgoing sleep is a bad idea. Sure you can get those extra hours right now, but you pay in spades later: You destroy your creativity, morale, and attitude.
Your estimates suck
We think we can guess how long something takes when we really have no idea. We see everything going according to a best-case scenario, without the delays that inevitably pop up. Reality never sticks to best-case scenarios.
The solution: Break the big thing into smaller things. The smaller it is, the easier it is to estimate. You’re probably still going to get it wrong, but you’ll be a lot less wrong than if you estimated a big project.
Long lists don’t get done
Start by making smaller to-do lists too. When’s the last time you have knocked off the first few, but chances are you eventually abandoned it.
Long lists are guilt trips. The longer the list of unfinished items, the worst you feel about it. There’s a better way. Break that long list down into a bunch of smaller lists. For example, break a single list of a hundred items into ten lists of ten items. That means when you finish an item on a list, you’ve completed 10 percent of that list, instead of 1 percent.
Make tiny decisions
Big decisions are hard to make and hard to change. And once you make one, the tendency is to continue believing you made the right decision, even if you didn’t. You stop being objective.
Once ego and pride are on the line, you can’t change your mind without looking bad. The desire to save face trumps the desire to make the right call. And then there’s inertia too: The more steam you put into going in one direction, the harder it is to change course.
Instead, make choices that are small enough that they’re effectively temporary. When you make tiny decisions, you can’t make big mistakes. These small decisions mean you can afford to change.
Don’t copy
Sometimes, copying can be part of the learning process, like when you see an art student replicating a painting in a museum. When you’re a student, this sort of imitation can be a helpful tool on the path to discovering your own voice.
Unfortunately, copying in the business arena is usually more nefarious. That’s a formula for failure. The problem with this sort of copying is it skips understanding – and understanding is how you grow. You have to understand why something works or why something is the way it is. When you just copy and paste, you miss that.
De-commoditize your product
If you’re successful, people will try to copy what you do. But there’s a great way to protect yourself from copycats: Make you part of your product or service. Inject what’s unique about the way you think into what you sell. De-commoditize your product. Make it into something no one else can offer. Competitors can never copy you in your product.
Pick a fight
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. Being anti- _ is a great way to differentiate yourself and attract followers.
Underdo your competition
Conventional wisdom says that to beat your competitors, you need to one-up them. This sort of one-upping is a dead end. When you get suckered into an arms race, you wind up in a never-ending battle that costs you massive amounts of money, time, and drive. And it forces you to constantly be on the defensive, too. Defensive companies can’t think ahead; they can only think behind. They don’t lead. They follow.
Focus on you, instead of they
Focus on competitors too much and you wind up diluting your own vision. Your chances of coming up with something fresh go way down when you keep feeding your brain other people’s ideas. If you are just going to be like everyone else, why are you even doing this?
Say no by default
It’s so easy to say yes. Yes to another feature, yes to an overly optimistic deadline, yes to a mediocre design.
Start getting into the habit of saying no – even to many of your best ideas. Use the power of no to get your priorities straight. You rarely regret saying no. But you often wind u regretting saying yes.
Let your customers outgrow you
Maybe you’ve seen this scenario: There’s a customer that’s paying a company a lot of money. The company tries to please that customer in any way possible. It tweaks and changes the product per one customer’s requests and starts to alienate its general customer base.
When you stick with your current customers come hell or high water, you wind up cutting yourself off from new ones. Your product or service becomes so tailored to your current customers that it stops appealing to fresh blood. And that’s how your company starts to die.
Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority
Let your latest grand ideas cool off for a while first. By all means, have as many great ideas as you can. Get excited about them. Just don’t act in the heat of the moment. Write them down and park them for a few days. Then, evaluate their actual priority with a calm mind.
Be at-home good
Smart companies make the opposite: something that’s at-home good. When you get the product home, you’re actually more impressed with it than you were at the store. You live with it and grow to it like more and more.
Welcome obscurity
No one knows who you are right now. And that’s just fine. Being obscure is a great position to be in. Be happy you’re in the shadows.
Use this time to make mistakes without the whole world hearing about them. Keep tweaking. Work out the kinks. Test random ideas. Try new things. No one knows you, so it’s no big deal if you mess up. Obscurity helps protect your ego and preserve your confidence. Now’s the time to take risks without worrying about embarrassing yourself.
Build an audience
All companies have customers. Lucky companies have fans. But the most fortunate companies have audiences. And the audience can be your secret weapon.
Today’s smartest companies know better. Instead of going out to reach people, you want people to come to you. An audience returns often – on its own – to see what you have to say. This is the most receptive group of customers and potential customers you’ll ever have.
Out-teach your competition
You can advertise. You can hire salespeople. You can sponsor events. But your competitors are doing the same things. How does that help you stand out?
Instead of trying to outspend, outsell, or out sponsor competitors, try to out-teach them. Teaching probably isn’t something your competitors are even thinking about. Most businesses focus on selling or servicing, but teaching never even occurs to them.
Teach and you’ll form a bond you just don’t get from traditional marketing tactics. Buying people’s attention with a magazine or online banner ad is one thing. Earning their loyalty by teaching them forms a whole different connection. They’ll trust you more. They’ll respect you more. Even if they don’t use your product, they can still be your fans.
Emulate chefs
As a business owner, you should share everything you know too. So emulate famous chefs. They cook, so they write cookbooks. What do you do? What are your recipes? What’s your cookbook? What can you tell the world about how you operate that’s informative, educational, and promotional?
Go behind the scenes
Give people a backstage pass and show them how your business works. Imagine what someone wanted to make a reality show about your business. What would they share? Think no one will care? Think again. Even seemingly boring jobs can be fascinating when presented right. What could be more boring than commercial fishing and trucking? Yet the Discovery Channel and History Channel have turned these professions into highly-rated shows: Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers.
People love finding out the little secrets of all kinds of businesses, even one that makes those tiny marshmallows in breakfast cereals. People are curious about how things are made.
Letting people behind the curtain changes their relationship with them. They’ll feel a bond with you and see you as human beings instead of a faceless company. They’ll see the sweat and effort that goes into what you sell. They’ll develop a deeper level of understanding and appreciation for what you do.
