Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you’re looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.
Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you’ll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don’t need to be a workaholic. You don’t need to staff up. You don’t need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don’t even need an office. Those are all just excuses.
What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You’ll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you.
With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of “downsizing,” and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.
Download a free excerpt of the book (pdf file) from the Rework website.
Buy Rework on Amazon.
Popular Highlights
Whenever you can, swap “Let’s think about it” for “Let’s decide on it.” Commit to making decisions. Don’t wait for the perfect solution. Decide and move forward.
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When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.
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Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.
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Ideas are cheap and plentiful. The original pitch idea is such a small part of a business that it’s almost negligible. The real question is how well you execute.
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The core of your business should be built around things that won’t change. Things that people are going to want today and ten years from now. Those are the things you should invest in.
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What Our Entrepreneurs Think
For me, it was a great reality check for companies and workers in understanding common things like time management, practical organization strategy, product development, and general economics. And it’s a damn good read. Quick too, as in, you can read it in one night, and you’ll probably try to read it again immediately. It’s been the book I’ve consistently recommend for the whole last year. – Emily Winters
It’s a must-read if you’re running or working for a startup and shows how much “ conventional” wisdom is really fear or laziness in disguise. It’s pretty breezy. You don’t have to implement everything they advise, but even taking just a few things will improve your product. – Jim Thomas
This is a must-read for anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur. It challenges many of the traditional beliefs around work and entrepreneurship and puts forth a lot of actionable recommendations on how to do things better. – Jon Reifschneider
The current trend we’re seeing in books like “The 4 Hour Workweek” and ”Rework” that frown upon the 80-hour work weeks very much excites me. It’s good to know that people are starting to publicly recognize that as much can get accomplished in a 20-hour workweek as it can in an 80-hour workweek, and that the latter is actually mind-numbing and not very effective. It recognizes that people work differently from one another, at different paces and at different times, and the trend will hopefully grow in such a way that a lot of the country can relax a little–and still get the same amount of work done. – Jill Salzman
More on Rework
- Book Review: Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
- 10 Invaluable Lessons Freelancers Can Learn from “Rework”
- Reflections & Review of Rework
- 18 things learned from Rework: Change the Way You Work Forever by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried.
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