Interview with Derek Sivers, Musician and Entrepreneur

Derek Sivers, musician and entrepreneur, has incredible advice for following your passions and overcoming obstacles. I had the honor of interviewing Derek on my last trip to New York City, and was truly inspired.

Derek has been a musician for many years now and in the 90s, he created his own CD where he played every instrument, and even sang himself! After creating his own CD, Derek wanted to sell his CD online, but there was no easy way to do this (this was pre Paypal, and Amazon was only selling books). So what’s a entrepreneurial musician to do? Create the website/tools yourself.

Derek set off to build his site, and became very interested in computer programming. When he wasn’t playing music, he was writing code for his website, called CD Baby. Long story short, CD Baby became one of the most popular websites for independent artists to sell their CDs. What started as a site where his friends could sell their CDs too turned into a huge community and marketplace for musicians.

Derek’s advice is priceless. “Pay close attention to things that naturally excite you,” Sivers says and “whatever excites you the most, go do it!” It seems simple enough but it’s so challenging for so many of us. One thing Derek mentioned in the interview that I was intrigued by is that “necessity is the only real teacher.” It’s interesting how we accomplish tasks when they are a matter of necessity. In Derek’s case, he had never taken a computer programming class in his life, so it was imperative he teach himself how to write the code for CD Baby, and has learned a tremendous amount as a result.

One final thought. I often ask people I interview how they overcome obstacles along the way, and Derek’s answer was great: “There’s no such thing as failure. It’s all just feedback.”