In ReWork, Jason Fried lays out the principles of his approach to every aspect of life. He suggests a new way to live your day-to-day life: as well as working less hours and spending more time with family, friends and hobbies you love; research what works best for yourself so that you can achieve real success in work too.
Are you looking for a book summary of ReWork by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson? You have come to the right place.
I jotted down a few key insights from Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson’s book after reading it.
If you don’t have time, you don’t have to read the whole book. This book synopsis gives you a quick rundown of all you can take away from it.
Let’s get this party started right now.
I’ll go through the following themes in this book synopsis for ReWork: Unorthodox Tips for Growing Companies:
What is the purpose of ReWork?
Rework is a book that challenges traditional conceptions of what it takes to manage a company, giving unconventional advice on topics such as productivity, communication, and product creation.
These lessons were based on the authors’ personal experiences operating, creating, and expanding their firm to the point where it was earning millions of dollars in profits every year.
Who is ReWork About’s author?
Jason Fried is the co-founder of 37signals, a web development firm that specializes on providing simple but effective collaboration tools.
David Heinemeier Hansson is the developer of the Ruby on Rails programming framework, which powers Twitter, Hulu, and hundreds of other online applications, in addition to his involvement at 37signals.
The duo’s previous book, Getting Real, was also a best-seller.
For Whom Is ReWork Intended?
Reading ReWork is not for everyone. It could be perfect for you if you are one of the following categories of people:
- Anyone interested in starting their own company.
- Anyone interested in learning about standard work in the twenty-first century should read this book.
- Anyone attempting to build a thriving workplace
Summary of the ReWork Book
Introduction
Starting a company is now simpler than ever. If you start small, you will need less time and resources.
Rather of leaving your day job and spending 100-hour weeks, start small by focusing on your concept a few hours each week. Instead of taking on debilitating loans, use the facilities and equipment you can afford or have at your disposal. External funding should only be considered as a last choice, since it will not only diminish your share in the concept, but it will also be time-consuming and distracting.
To get started, most companies merely need a laptop and a concept; everything else is optional.
When you first establish your firm, focus all of your efforts on developing the foundation of your company. Your company will fail if it does not have a solid core. For example, a hotdog cart specialized on hotdogs. Choose a core that you believe will hold up over time.
Amazon’s key ideals include fast delivery, a reasonable price, and a large variety. Even if publishing trends come and go, there will always be individuals eager to pay for these goods.
As quickly as feasible, launch your core. Before launching your core, your firm does not need to be completely operational. The specifics may be worked out at a later time. When 37signals created Basecamp, it couldn’t even charge clients. They understood they had four weeks to address the issue since the invoicing cycle is monthly. It was just a question of getting going.
You may start your firm as soon as the core of it is ready, and you won’t need a lot of money to get started.
First and foremost, stand up for what you believe in.
Only by doing something you care about can you create the level of urgency and dedication that operating a successful business demands. If you’re going to do it, make something you’re proud of.
Some individuals aim to leave their firm from the start. It’s foolish to enter a relationship with the intention of terminating it. Rather than being prepared to sell out at any time, a firm should be conducted with passion and devotion.
Standing up for something that is essential to you may also garner dedicated followers and supporters. Because the bread has lost its freshness, Vinnie’s Sub Shop in Chicago stops serving sandwiches in the afternoon.
If they sold poor sandwiches for additional money in the afternoon, they would not be able to compensate for the loss of dignity they would feel. Customers value this commitment to excellence.
Picking a battle with a rival who is already on your side is the greatest approach to reinforce your viewpoint. Running a tiny, independent coffee business may help you establish yourself as the opposite of Starbucks. You will get quick trust with the buyer and be able to tell a terrific narrative if you have an adversary.
However, you should not let your competition determine your approach. If your initial objective is to imitate the iPhone 5 or come up with a reaction to it, you’ll constantly be one step behind your competitors. Check to see whether your priorities are in the right place.
Lesson 2: If you make your product unique, you can share all you know about it.
If your firm is successful, others will want to emulate your success. You can only make your product distinctive by integrating it with your own unique features.
Customer service is so important to Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, that he declared it the company’s guiding concept. Competitors may be able to offer the same kind of shoes as Zappos, but they cannot match Zappos’ customer care.
Making a product or service that you would use yourself is a fantastic approach to discover your true calling. When Bill Bowerman placed rubber into his family’s waffle iron to develop lighter running shoes for his squad, he devised the Nike waffle sole.
The majority of individuals anticipate fantastic things from the items they purchase, and are dissatisfied if they do not get what they expected. People will enjoy your product more more than they imagined if it is simple to use, and they will tell their friends about it. This will enable you to market your goods similarly to a drug dealer: offer customers a free sample and then expect them to purchase more from you.
Once you have created a product that is unique and will keep people coming back, you may reveal all you know about what makes your product distinctive without giving away any secrets that might lead to imitations.
As great chefs do when they produce cookbooks with their valued recipes, a corporation may market itself by sharing its important expertise and specialized knowledge freely.
You may also instruct others through courses, videos, and how-to instructions! Because most firms, particularly big ones, are so private, teaching others what you’ve learnt may be a huge competitive advantage.
Lesson 3: Be a small business owner, but don’t forget that you’re in charge of a company.
Small businesses generally desire increased visibility and market share, but larger isn’t necessarily better. Harvard and Cambridge are prestigious universities. Do you suppose they aim to grow to other continents, given that they teach thousands of pupils each year? Most likely not. They are at ease in their own skin, as should you be.
You may experiment with your company without worrying about possible blunders being revealed since you have less mass and are off the media radar.
Just like Broadway musicals are tested in smaller towns before making their way to New York, you should take advantage of your anonymity in the beginning to experiment with new ideas and techniques.
Furthermore, keeping your company small helps you to maintain your whole staff on the front lines, connecting with clients and hearing their views and needs directly. A complex structure muffles input and causes you to slow down. Customer satisfaction may be enhanced when everyone is held responsible, which is essential for providing successful customer service.
You should remember that just because you’re little, you’re operating a company. Startups often spend money from investors without regard for profitability. It is not a company, but rather the founders’ glorified pastime. A clear road to profitability is the foundation of each successful firm.
Lesson 4: Say no to keep your product simple and lean.
In his TV program, Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsay usually begins repairing failing restaurants by deleting around two-thirds of the menu items.
When your product has issues, you may want to consider removing functionality. Only by chiseling away at all the merely nice material can you create something really extraordinary. Don’t be terrified of what you can’t do. You, too, can produce a fantastic product or service with minimal features, much like Ernest Hemingway did with his Nobel-winning literature.
Don’t strive to outdo your competitors by enhancing their product with additional features. Instead, simplify and enhance your offering. Decide what you won’t sell to increase the value of your product. Consider this: instead of displaying every single artwork in existence, outstanding art galleries exhibit a chosen handful. Remove the trash yourself and vouch for what’s left.
Simple items and services, on the other hand, are difficult to come by. As you get more consumers, you’ll get more requests to develop the product, both from customers and from your employees.
Do not overreact to such demands by instantly introducing additional features or changing your product. If you do so, your product will fast become unrecognizable, frightening away prospective new consumers since the adjustments were made to meet the wants of current customers.
No matter how fantastic an idea seems, you should reject it right away. You won’t be able to dismiss a consumer request if it is really essential.
Lesson 5: Instead of emulating major organizations, make sure your marketing and communications are honest, personable, and agile.
It’s not a bad idea to have communications that represent your company’s size. In contrast to the nonsensical press statements loaded with jargon issued by large firms, your tiny stature allows you to talk openly. Don’t speak about “transparency being a cornerstone of your communications strategy” when you can simply state you’re honest.
Connecting with consumers via advertising or active marketing is costly. You may establish a loyal audience by giving content that your audience finds valuable. You will attract their attention without spending a dollar if you do it this way.
In a small business, marketing is everyone’s duty. Marketing includes emails, phone calls, blog posts, and social media updates, and it may help you enhance your client connection. Customers will come to know you and your workers better if you offer them a behind-the-scenes glimpse at your business.
When seeking true press attention, you should strive for specialized rather than broad media coverage. You will obtain considerably more internet traffic and sales if you produce an article for a well-targeted small magazine or blog than if you write a story for a well-known newspaper.
Instead of sending out bulk press releases, you might reach out to journalists with personalized calls or letters.
Being open and honest about your flaws and weaknesses is part of having a simple approach to communication. Customers do not appreciate companies that make excuses for their flaws.
Instead of offering pseudo-apologies like “We apologize if this caused any inconvenience,” think about what type of apology you’d want to hear as a customer.
Lesson 6: Create an atmosphere in which individuals can interact openly with one another and handle their own affairs.
If you approach your staff like children, you will spend half of your time managing and making choices on their behalf. Our staff, on the other hand, will become non-thinkers and non-doers, costing you a lot of time and effort while doing very little.
Employees that can manage themselves are needed in your company, and such people flourish only when they are given trust, responsibility, and autonomy.
Direct communication is a feature of a good setting. Avoid high-level, long-winded explanations and abstractions. Tell the truth as plainly as possible to your team. Not at meetings, but at the issue sites, you need to acquire a grasp on the problem.
In addition, we must be truthful in our critique. You will notice that talks do not flow smoothly if you have a huge crew that does not know each other. You require honest, open communication among your team if terrible ideas are challenged when they should be.
Finally, some terms should be avoided while speaking inside your team. Assume you’re confronted with a difficult assignment, and someone dismisses you by stating, “We can’t exist without this; it should be simple for you to do.” Is there really any space for debate in that?
The use of harsh, value-laden terms like need, must, only, and can’t conveys a judgment about someone’s situation and may swiftly eliminate any possibility of a healthy conversation.
You should also refrain from requesting items as soon as feasible. As a consequence of inflation, it is seen as less urgent than non-ASAP requests.
Lesson 7: Avoid overplanning and be flexible and fast to adapt.
You have a lot of benefits over bigger rivals as a small firm, including the capacity to make rapid choices without being slowed down by bureaucracy. Start stating “Let’s take action” instead of “Let’s think about it.” Don’t wait for the ideal answer; obtain something good enough and move on.
Take cautious not to overthink or overplan. Unless you have a crystal ball, estimating and planning are mainly guesswork. If you think your plans are accurate and mindlessly follow them, you lose your capacity to improvise.
Don’t be concerned; just go with the flow. Make choices when they emerge rather than planning beforehand. Consider what matters to you this week, not next year. Small, reversible decisions with a short-term effect are simpler to make than large, life-changing decisions with long-term repercussions.
Similarly, don’t make broad estimations like “this project will cost $1 million,” etc. If you want your projections to be accurate, break them down into smaller chunks, such as weeks rather than years. Furthermore, being incorrect will have a considerably lower influence.
Don’t allow the possibility of anything going wrong prevent you from making a choice. Any choice has potential drawbacks, but you can always deal with them when they arise.
Lesson 8: Precise and swift triumphs, not extended hours, contribute to production.
Working long hours is generally associated with productivity, however this is not the case. They put forth a lot of effort to leave at 5 p.m. since they have busy lives outside of work. Keeping late-night employees might actually hurt productivity by making nonworkaholics feel guilty and alienated.
Eliminating interruptions that impair people’s attention is the first step in maintaining high productivity at work. It’s critical for your team to block off some time each day or week when they won’t be disturbed.
Meetings are, unsurprisingly, the most inconvenient interruptions. An hour-long meeting with 10 persons will take ten hours of total labor time to complete. This may be fine under exceptional circumstances, but many meetings lack objectives, agendas, and linkages to real work. Meetings are frequently held only for the purpose of exchanging information.
Perfectionism stymies productivity as well. We might spend weeks attempting to find out the ideal answer to intricate situations when a simple fix is frequently all that is required. Choose solutions that are as effective as feasible while requiring the least amount of work to be productive. “Good enough” is often preferred above “perfect.”
You may foster non-perfectionism by breaking down huge projects and activities into smaller portions. As a consequence, complicated projects are not only simpler to manage, but they also afford more opportunity to celebrate modest victories. This keeps motivation and momentum going.
Lesson 9: Only recruit individuals if they are really required, and don’t depend on resumes.
Some businesses make it a practice to hire workers. The corporation discovers someone exceptional and chooses to recruit her, despite the fact that she has no defined title or job description. This is when things start to go awry.
Your organization should only engage someone to tackle a pressing issue that is giving you significant discomfort. The longer you keep your team tight, the more time you’ll save and the more effective you’ll be; recruiting more people will lead to dissatisfaction and the production of irrelevant, false work to keep them occupied.
It’s possible that your recruiting pool is too narrow to handle “once-in-a-lifetime” employees, which is a reasonable issue. You’ll always find more exceptional employees if you’re prepared to recruit folks from all over the globe. Because almost everyone can work online these days, the location of your personnel is virtually unimportant.
If you do end up employing someone, you should disregard standard recruiting ideologies such as examining resumes, grade point averages, and years of experience. Instead, trust your intuition and concentrate on what they’ve genuinely learnt from their previous experiences.
Finally, put your personnel to the test. Taking someone for an interview will not show how they will do on the job, but allowing them to work on a mini-project will enable you to rate them based on their deeds rather than their words.
BMW created a dummy assembly line in order to see potential personnel in action. Always recruit someone who has done the same sort of work you have done in the past for this on-the-job testing to be most beneficial. This will also make it simpler to manage them in the future.
Final Thoughts
Starting and running a company is now simpler than it has ever been. In order to develop a successful company, it is critical to add your own originality to your product and to embrace the advantages of being small. To create a fantastic working atmosphere, emphasize trust, independence, and concentration.
Additional Reading
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