Rework
by Josh Levine
Photo courtesy of Emily Norton.
What are you reading? You should be reading Rework by Jason Fried from 37Signals. His company makes a ton of money by selling software and has very little infrastructure and the typical corporate bullshit that weighs down too many companies. No offense, of course, to all of the companies weighed down by the typical corporate bullshit. If you’re not ready to get the book, you can see an excerpt here at Change This. My favorite bit:
Start making something We all have that one friend who says, “I had the idea for eBay. If only I had acted on it, I’d be a billionaire!” That logic is pathetic and delusional. Having the idea for eBay has nothing to do with actually creating eBay. What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan. Think your ideas that valuable? Then go try to sell it and see what you get for it. Not much is probably the answer. Until you actually start making something, your brilliant idea is just that— an idea. And everyone’s got one of those. Stanley Kubrick gave this advice to aspiring filmmakers: “Get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.” Kubrick knew that when you’re new at something, you need to start creating. The most important thing is to begin. So get a camera, hit record, and start shooting. Ideas are cheap and plentiful. The original pitch idea is such a small part of a business that it’s almost negligible. The real question is how well you execute. 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. Ever seen the weapons that prisoners make out of soap and other everyday items? They make do with what they’ve got. Now we’re not saying you should go out and shank somebody—but get creative and you’ll be amazed at what you can make with just a little.
But seriously, what are you reading? Tell us in the comments.
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