Let’s never forget that whatever brilliant ideas you have or hear, that the opposite may also be true.

If anybody ever called our number, it would be picked up in less than 2 rings with a friendly voice answering, CD Baby. From 7 am to 10 pm, there was always somebody to pick up a call in 2 rings. No voice mail system; no routing to different departments. We treated our customers like our best friends. You don't route your best friend's call to an automated system!

You're free to do anything you want with your company. It's more like art. You don't have to follow any norms. It's an expression of how you feel the world should be. When you make a company, that's your little place to make your own little utopia.

If you really care about starting a movement, have the courage to follow and show others how to follow. And when you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first one to stand up and join in.

Making a company is a great way to improve the world while improving yourself.

It's only a little difficult to say no. You've got to believe that the work you're doing is ultimately more useful to the world.

Make every decision—even decisions about whether to expand the business, raise money, or promote someone—according to what's best for your customers.