Derek Sivers podcast

Latest Episodes:

Meet three new people every week May 18, 2000

Show notes

That’s your simple goal to expand your network. Every single week, meet at least three new people that could help your career.

Have a real conversation — something more than text on a screen. Ask questions, get to know them, and make a personal connection. Learn what they’re looking for, and how you can help them.

At this rate, you’ll meet 150 new people each year. The more people you know, the better.

One of the biggest pop stars in the world right now got her start by meeting 50 people per day for a year! Before her first album, her manager took her around America, meeting every promoter, producer, radio director, video director, writer, editor, publisher — every person in the music business that could help her career. Just five minutes of hello, handshake, and “nice to meet you” with this charming future pop star. It must have been exhausting. But after a year of this, there were 15,000 people in the music industry that had met her face-to-face and will always feel a personal connection to her.

Though you probably won’t go to this extreme, it’s an example of how far you could take this idea.

If we assume your music is great, and you are a likeable person that people enjoy helping, I’ll make this prediction: The number of people you meet will determine your success.

Stay in touch with hundreds of people May 10, 2000

Show notes

Every person you’ve ever met has the potential to help you.

If you keep in touch and stay on their mind, there’s a good chance an opportunity will come your way. But if you don’t keep in touch, that potential is almost gone. Out of touch, out of mind.

So you need to make a simple automatic system to keep in touch without relying on your memory. Use your database to label everyone in a category like this:

A list: Very important people. Contact every three weeks.
B list: Important people. Contact every two months.
C list: Most people. Contact every six months.
D list: Demoted people. Contact once a year, to make sure you still have their correct info.

When you contact each person, just find out how they’re doing. See if you can help them in any way.

This regular contact should be unselfish, and sincerely caring how they are. Don’t ask a favor unless you’ve been in touch recently. It’s a little insulting to contact someone you haven’t talked with in a long time, just to ask a favor.

Most people are so bad at keeping in touch that they will really appreciate you doing it. And when you make this a habit, it’s easy to stay in touch with hundreds or thousands of people.

Persistence is polite May 07, 2000

Show notes

As teenagers, we learned the hard way that if you contact someone and they don’t reply, they’re just not into you. If you keep trying, you must be a total loser.

But in the business world, it’s the opposite. If you don’t keep trying, you’re a loser!

If someone doesn’t get back to you, it probably wasn’t intentional. Everyone is busy, and their situation has nothing to do with you.

Imagine two different scenarios:

Someone doesn’t reply, so you get upset and decide they’re evil and clearly meant to insult you. You resent them for life, and speak poorly of them forever.
Someone doesn’t reply, so you assume they must be swamped in work. You wait a week, and contact them again. If still no reply, you feel sympathy that they must be really overwhelmed. You wait a week, and try again. If still no reply, you try to reach them a different way.

Now, which one was rude, and which one was polite?

Don’t be a mosquito May 04, 2000

Show notes

A mosquito enters a room of people only to suck something out of them.

People hate mosquitos.

It’s important to meet people, but more important to get to know them. Ask questions. Listen.

Learn what they love. Learn what they want. Figure out what you can do for them.

Relationships are reciprocal. You need to give to receive.

Don’t be a mosquito.

Every breakthrough comes from someone you know May 01, 2000

Show notes

When I was promoting my music, I used to look to the big wide world for opportunities.

Only later, I realized that every great thing that happened in my career came from someone I knew.

When you come to an opportunity through a connection, you have an advantage. You’re not anonymous. You’ve already passed through a filter, and passed a test. You’re treated special because it’s a personal referral.

Does this mean you should stop looking to the world for opportunities? No! Of course not!

Take some of that searching time, and spend it on keeping in touch with your existing contacts.

Then also keep looking to the world. But when you find an opportunity, don’t just toss your music in with the rest. Get to know the people behind it. Set yourself apart. Get personal. And now this is someone you know.

Every breakthrough comes from someone you know.

Captain T Apr 20, 2000

Show notes

Back in 1997, when “The X Files” was still on the air, a friend of mine who called himself Captain T recorded an album that was all about conspiracy theories, Area 51, and aliens. It was intentionally funny, but he stayed in character. He acted like a guy who was trying to tell the world about government cover-ups.

We wanted to send his album to college radio stations, but couldn’t afford to hire a real radio promoter, so we decided to do it ourselves. We decided to make his marketing an extension of his art and image.

I had visited many college radio stations and saw that the kids there would receive twenty packages a day, all exactly the same, in the same boring envelopes, with a little cover letter saying the same thing: “Please consider this album for airplay.” I wanted to be considerate and give them something different.

So we bought 500 black envelopes, 500 sheets of brown paper, 500 alien head stickers, and 500 huge red labels that said “CONFIDENTIAL! DO NOT OPEN FOR ANY REASON”.

We did a mail-merge to the 500 program directors at 500 college radio stations, so that each one got a personalized printed letter that said this:

Dear __name__,
You don’t know me, but I live in the bushes behind your station.
I have been here for 12 years, and your station has saved my life many times over.
The music that you play has kept me going through my darkest of days and for this I owe you everything.
So I must tell you that a man named Captain T found me in the gutter yesterday, and he taught me about what is really going on with the government cover-ups, and what really happened down there in Area 51 with the aliens. This man has a message that you have to get out to the world, because people need to know the truth!!!
Signed, the man in the bushes, looking through your window right now.

We took each letter out to the backyard and rubbed it in dirt, then crumpled it up. Then we put the crumpled letter and CD into each black envelope, sealed it with an alien head sticker, and finally covered it with the huge label that said “CONFIDENTIAL! DO NOT OPEN FOR ANY REASON”. And that’s what we mailed to each radio station.

Now imagine you’re that college kid receiving twenty boring packages per day. Then you get this scary black package that says “DO NOT OPEN”. When you open it, it’s covered in dirt and says, “You don’t know me, but I live in the bushes behind your station.”

375 of the 500 radio stations played it.

Every now and then, my friend Captain T gets approached by someone that used to work at a college radio station back in 1997. They tell him they still remember it, because it was the coolest package they ever got.

Business is creative Apr 17, 2000

Show notes

A famous record label executive was confronted by a musician who said, “You don’t value creativity!” The executive said, “Oh please! I’ve got accountants more creative than you!”

It’s meant as an insult, but it has a point. Don’t think of music as creative but business as not. Business is definitely just as creative as music.

Most musicians are wildly creative when writing, playing, performing, and recording. But as soon as it’s time to do business, they stiffen up and lose their confidence. They follow advice that tells them exactly how to promote.

But turning off your creativity — trying to play it safe — is the worst thing you could do. Just like with music.

So loosen up! Get confident, creative, playful, and experimental. Break the rules. Try some things that nobody else has done.

Think of how comfortable you are on your instrument — improvising, experimenting, and having fun with it.

Now be that comfortable when marketing. Improvise. Experiment. And have fun with it!

This is only a test. See what happens Apr 14, 2000

Show notes

In America in the 1970s, they would test the Emergency Broadcast System on TV, with a long “BEEEEEEEEEEP”. At the end, an announcer would say, “This is a test. This is only a test.”

That phrase is burned into my brain. “This is a test. This is only a test.” It’s very useful to remember when pursuing your career.

Everything usually feels so serious — like if you make one mistake, it’ll all end in disaster. But really everything you do is just a test: an experiment to see what happens.

My favorite times in life started with a “see what happens” approach.

Let’s see what happens if I run my vocals through my guitar pedals.

Let’s see what happens if I invite that famous producer out to lunch.

Let’s see what happens if I call that radio station to ask their advice.

It’s actually impossible to fail if your only mission was to see what happens!

“This is a test. This is only a test.” There is no downside. Try everything!

Direct it yourself Apr 10, 2000

Show notes

The “do it yourself” mentality is appealing. But it doesn’t mean you do everything yourself. And it doesn’t mean it has to be your hands.

Maybe at first, if you are just starting, and have no action, you can do everything yourself. It can be fun to make your website, engineer your recordings, design your artwork, book your gigs, and even play all the instruments when recording.

But as soon as you get momentum, you’ll completely sabotage your success if you keep trying to do everything yourself.

Instead, learn to use others’ hands. Be like a film director. It’s your vision. You decide how things are done. You direct your team on what to do. You don’t do everything yourself.

Yes, this means you need to find specialists at the other tasks. And yes, sometimes it’s hard to find them. But it’s harder to watch your career crawl instead of fly because you’re trying to do it all yourself. I’ve seen too many make that mistake. Please don’t.

Was 10%, now 90% Apr 07, 2000

Show notes

A few decades ago, as a musician, only 10% of your career was up to you.

A few gate-keepers controlled all the outlets. You had to impress one of these powerful people to be allowed to present your music to the world. So getting discovered was about all you could do.

But now 90% of your career is up to you. You have all the tools to make it happen.

You have to come up with a plan and make it happen. You have to make a great recording, a great show, a great video. You have to make thousands of people want your music so much they are willing to pay for it.

Record labels aren’t guessing anymore. They’re only signing artists that have built a success on their own. And even if a record label signs you, it’s still up to you to make people want it!

The only thing stopping you from great success is yourself. This is both scary and exciting. But at least you’re in control.