It’s good to have a healthy skepticism with “business books.” Afterall, there are 8,000 of them published every year. Most are banal, reductionist, or derivative (fancy way of saying, boring).
Rework (affiliate link) was written in 2010, and it’s a classic. Super easy to ready and solid. So good that I sent copies to friends (hat tip: RP). The authors – Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson – run 37 signals, the company that created the Basecamp software. Successful company that has 50+ employees, $25M in revenue and has turned down 100+ investment offers over the years.
Fried prefers slow, consistent and profitable growth of at least 5% a year—“so we can enjoy the culture of a small business.” – Forbes 2019
80+ chapters, all 1.5 pages long
In good, no-nonsense form, the chapter titles are easy to understand and direct. Oh, they are also unconventional and iconoclastic. Here are some of my favorites below.
1. Planning is guessing
Yes, you can put together a super detailed model and track all the assumptions. However, you learn the most by doing. Find ways to experiment on the cheap. It’s okay to be (a little) wrong (temporarily). Jim Collins called it shooting bullets before the cannonball. Henry Mintzberg, strategy professor, author of Managers, not MBAs (affiliate link), often talks about emerging strategy. Think of the HBS case study – Honda (B).
2. Draw a line in the sand
Know what you stand for. What is your point of view? Do you have strong opinions, loosely held? Have you done the work? Are you confident, because you have put in the deliberate practice? Yes, best practices give a starting point, but you’ll never stand out from the crowd by copying others.
When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious. – Rework
Have something to say. Pick a fight with an incumbent. How are you advocating for customers?
3. Outside money is plan Z
With the massive rise in liquidity over the last 20 years (read: printing money), money continues to be cheap. As of 10/14/19, the 10-year treasury is at 1.7%. It’s easy to think about using other people’s money, but there are many downsides. Here are the 6 they outline:
- You give up control
- “Cashing out” begins to trump building a business
- Spending other people’s money is addictive (think: WeWork)
- It’s usually a bad deal (you have not leverage when you are just beginning)
- Customers move down the totem pole (you start prioritizing investors’ needs)
- Raising money is incredible distracting
So what can you do? Do more with less. Avoid unnecessary fixed costs: long-term leases, inventory, fancy office furniture, and technology. The authors also mention other frivolities such as meetings, politics, and permanent decisions. Less outside capital means you have more equity, and also more flexibility.
4. A commitment strategy, not an exit strategy
Too many people, and businesses are looking for the easy “out”. They rightly ask, “Would you start a relationship planning a breakup?” So true. So true. It takes a lot of thought, heart, and sweat to launch a successful business. Gotta keep your eye on the ball, not on the exit.
5. Build half a product, not a half-ass product
Strategy is about trade-offs and you cannot do everything. The laundry list of product features is really a roadmap to confusion. Figure out what is critical-to-quality (what are clients willing to pay for), and create something simple and great. Make good incremental decisions. Move forward. The authors say, “trim it down, then polish the rest.” Throw less at the problem.
Solve a customer’s simple problem, well.
6. Interruption is the enemy of productivity
Peter Drucker said it best, “Meetings are a symptom of bad organization.” Cal Newport’s, Deep Work (affiliate link) argues that it takes more than 15 minutes to bounce back from a 15 minute interruption. We all need to get in the “alone zone.” Focus.
7. Don’t copy
If you really want to excel, copying the competition is obviously not a sustainable approach. You are just targeting a fat B/B-. Instead, you need to go through the tough work and learning. You need to actively hone what makes your product/company/service great. You be a great you.
8. Get in the habit of saying “no”
It’s very easy to say “yes” to customers, but that can get you into trouble. You need to draw a line in the sand (see #2) and get over the current discomfort of saying “no” even though you won’t regret that decision later. As Enzo Ferrari said, “The customer are not always right.” The competitors are also not always right (see #7).
9. Out-teach your competition
Love this idea. When you are in B2B marketing, it’s all about education selling. Helping the client scope down their problem and evaluate their choices. Help your customer make the right call. No client regrets taking calls from consultants who help them to get smart on a topic. The days where you sell because of the client’s ignorance are gone (and thank goodness).
10. Marketing is not a department
So true. Everything your company does is marketing. If it gives your prospects and customers a glimpse into what working with you looks like, it is marketing. Your website, your parking lot, your ex-employees, your yelp reviews, and your packaging. It’s all marketing. Be, Do, Say. Most people spend their marketing dollars “saying” how great they are, when in reality, ain’t that great.
11. Hire the better writer
Call to action for blog readers: keep writing. If you agree that writing is organized thinking, put your thoughts on paper/online. Start building up your intellectual equity, that belongs to you.
Refine your “product” and your brand. Don’t go to market as a laundry list of skills; instead hone in on what problems you solve for clients, or what pain points you can alleviate — basically, how you can help them. (In marketing this is called “features versus benefits”.)
Makes total sense. Thanks for reading
Great work. I truly loved it.
Winning