Leadership Through Stories?! – with Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers, CD Baby, Scaling

I’m still on vacation, but recorded this before I left. –Andrew

Why did Derek Sivers’ CD Baby grow after he stopped showing up for work on a daily basis? How did his people take it from $1 million in annual sales to $20 million in his absence?

As you’ll see in this interview, it had to do with the way Derek uses stories. You’ll learn about that and his other unconventional approaches to business in this interview and in his new book, Anything You Want.

Derek Sivers

CD Baby

Derek Sivers was circus musician and ringleader in the late 1980’s; he later founded and sold CD Baby, the largest distributor for Indie music online. This year he is launching MuckWork, which offers a network of reliable assistants to do the “uncreative dirty work” for musicians.

Andrew: Before we get started, tell me if you’re having this problem. Your business is getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and congratulations on that. But at the same time, you’re email inbox is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. How do you manage it all? Well, here’s a solution. It comes from UserVoice. Watch this. It’s a form that pops up that’s familiar to users. They can type in the subject of their message and look at what happens. Right here, if their issue is already addressed before, it’s right there. They get the answer because UserVoice finds it in your system. UserVoice, it’s a one-stop solution for all your help desk needs, easy to add to your website. You don’t have to use Gmail, or whatever email program you’re using. You can use UserVoice to manage customer feedback. And it’s easy to add. UserVoice.com.

Also, check this out. You know Shopify, right? Do you know how beautiful their...

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