Many business books detail the art of drafting a business plan, marketing, or fund raising. ReWork by Jason Fried and Davide Heinemeier Hansson tries something new. It offers encouragement for launching your business today and getting to work. It’s like having a personal trainer in your ear – or maybe a drill sergeant.
The key to the book is its simple format. ReWork offers page after page of ideas to begin work now. Those pages are full of sketches, cleaver one liners, and short actionable ideas.
Forty-Three Indispensable Ideas
The forty-three best of ideas presented in ReWork are below:
- “Learning from mistakes is overrated…failure is not a prerequisite for success.”
- “Planning is guessing.”
- Believe in something, have a backbone. That’s how you get superfans to spread your product or ideas.
- Get on with it, you can’t plan forever.
- Don’t just write your mission statement, live it and show you believe it.
- You need less than you think to get started.
- “Start a business, not a startup…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…Act like an actual business and you’ll have a much better shot at success.”
- Stay lean. That includes everything from staff and equipment to superfluous words in letters. Less is best.
- “Start at the epicenter” of your business. The heart of the project is your focus. Ignore details in the beginning because they can distract you from your mission. There will be plenty of time for details later when you discover what needs perfection.
- Don’t put off decisions because they will pile up and be delt with later in haste.
- Long projects destroy moral.
- Curate. Don’t just put up everything. Be selective and understand that what’s not there is just as important as what is.
- Less is more. Focus on the “main dishes” or bread and butter plays. Do not add more to the menu of options.
- Focus on the un-movable things you know will not change, the principles of the company – Don’t get distracted by the latest trends.
- Don’t get hung up on gear. Get to work. World class cyclist are fast on junkie bikes and highly technical bikes.
- Get it out there and launch now.
- Eliminate interruptions – especially superfluous meetings.
- Get momentum with quick wins.
- Pick a fight with competitors.
- Don’t one up competition, instead make it more simple – Do less.
- Learn to say NO.
- Let your customers outgrow you so you don’t spend time changing for the one client just so they can leave.
- Get excited about new ideas but don’t let them become the only priority.
- While you are obscure, take risks and try things.
- Build an audience – speak, write, blog, tweet, video, whatever it takes.
- Let your audience behind the scenes – it builds a bond.
- “Nobody likes plastic flowers” – imperfection is endearing.
- Everything is marketing so it’s not a department.
- There are no overnight sensations.
- DIY first and only hire when it hurts. Hire slowly to maintain stability and culture, so you don’t have a bunch of incongruent personalities.
- Forget about formal education and Ivy league – They teach bad habits.
- Delegators are dead weight – everyone needs to work.
- Hire people who create goals and execute them.
- Hire the better writer.
- Test drive professionals before you hire – Start with small projects or review their past work.
- “Own your bad news” so you can tell the story.
- Get back to people quickly.
- Learn to say sorry, sincerely.
- After rocking the boat, ride out the waves and people will get back to their habits.
- “Culture is the by-product off consistent behavior” it’s not “crafted” with a trust fall or Christmas party.
- Decisions are temporary.
- Words matter. Never use “ASAP” or “urgent” or “can’t” to communicate to employees.
- “Inspiration is perishable.”
Is it Worth the Read?
Yes. It’s an easy, quick read and aligned with most business owners’ values. ReWork, along with many other business books, are not overtly conservative. The ideas promoted are. Free market capitalism personifies freedom and individual liberty. Capitalism is one of the most foundational conservative ideas in the past 200 years. The appeal of books like ReWork is the broad approach. ReWork might stay away from politics and culture, but it’s rooted in capitalism, hard work, and personal agency. It’s hard to find more conservative values than these.
We all need a personal trainer from time to time. If you run a business or are thinking of building a one, this book has some great ideas.
