What is the main message of Everything I Know?

The main message of Everything I Know is to question conventional wisdom and think for yourself.

Who is the author of Everything I Know?

The author of Everything I Know is Paul Jarvis.

Entrepreneurship

Everything I Know Book Summary - Everything I Know Book explained in key points

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Everything I Know summary

Name: Everything I Know
Rating: 4.4 (44 reviews)
Author: Paul Jarvis

Paul Jarvis

The basics of creating a learning and problem-solving culture

4.4 (44 ratings)

24 mins

Brief summary

'Everything I Know' by Paul Jarvis is a practical guide to entrepreneurship where he shares his experience on how to build a business while maintaining your sanity. Offers insights on marketing, pricing and avoiding burnout.

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Learning Entrepreneurship

Table of Contents

Everything I Know
Summary of 10 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 10

What’s in it for me? Learn some hard-earned wisdom on how to be self-employed and satisfied.

Many of us have ideas, ambitions and dreams that we would love to pursue if we only had the time and the money. And then there’s the fear – the fear of being criticized, of coming up short and not being the success you dreamed of. But author and entrepreneur Paul Jarvis is here to tell you that you can push through these fears, and that there’s no time like the present to put those plans into action.

With over 20 years experience as his own boss, and with numerous start-ups to his credit, Jarvis has learned a lot about entrepreneurship and the excuses people make to continue working for someone else. But if you want your hard work to benefit your dreams, rather than the dreams of someone else, then it’s time to push the excuses aside and get down to some real, meaningful work that reflects who you are as an individual.

Jarvis doesn’t believe in advice, so these aren’t “rules.” Rather, they’re lessons that he’s learned over the course of his career. But if you’re thinking of starting your own business, there’s a good chance they’ll help your career as well.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

why it doesn’t hurt to be an imperfect yoga instructor;
why a bold manifesto is good for business; and
why theft is better than mimicry.

It is scary but rewarding to choose your own adventure.

If you were a schoolkid in the 1980s or 1990s, you may remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books, a series of adventure stories that allowed you to decide what the main character did or didn’t do. For instance, if you chose to go through the scary forest, you’d turn to a certain page; if you chose to go around the forest, however, you’d turn to another.

When the author, Paul Jarvis, was a young boy, he loved these books, and as an adult he continued to choose his own adventure by deciding to be his own boss rather than working for someone else.

After quitting college, Jarvis did work for someone else, as an employee at a web design company in Toronto, and he didn’t like it one bit. However, this experience taught him the ins and outs of running a web-based business – things he knew he wouldn’t learn in school.

Sure, when you work for someone else, you’re not risking much and you may feel a sense of security, but it’s not very rewarding in the long run. In order to get the big reward you have to take the big risk and embark on your own adventure, which means doing something no one else is doing – something that speaks to who you are as an individual.

As a web designer, Jarvis has met clients who point to someone else’s website and say, “I want the same site they have.” But what they don’t understand is that following someone else’s lead is just going to make them boring and forgettable.

Following someone else’s path may seem like an appealingly safe way to go, but imagine following someone else’s treasure map. It may lead you to where the gold was, but that gold will be gone by the time you get there. So why settle for the leftover scraps that come with copying someone else when you can do your own thing and uncover your very own treasure?

The universe rewards those who do their own thing in an authentic way while managing to help others. It’s true that corporations and schools often tell people to fall in line and be like everyone else, rather than promoting individualism and uniqueness. But the fact is that we’re all unique and, as we’ll see in the next blink, it pays to embrace our weirdness.

Embrace your weirdness and stick to your values.

There’s plenty of so-called “expert advice” out there that says it’s smart to try and fit yourself into some cookie-cutter business model. But Jarvis is here to tell you that such advice is bullshit.

In fact, he hates advice altogether. That said, he does believe that the best way to be inspiring and attract people to your business is to be true to your unique self, and to be different than what’s already out there. In other words: be weird.

Learn by doing and take a step back if things get off to a bad start.

There are all kinds of learning preferences, and some people are perfectly suited to the structure that schools and universities provide. But sometimes there can be a limit to how much you can learn from reading or listening to a lecturer – you need to go out and learn by doing.

Whatever your craft may be, learning by doing is the best way to develop and improve that craft. Jarvis doesn’t regret dropping out of college to work at a web design company because he knows that he learned a lot of valuable lessons on the job that he wouldn’t have learned at school. Only after spending a few years as the company’s creative director did he feel confident enough to venture forth and start his own business.

To get started, avoid concerns about being perfect or what other people will think.

Once you’ve made the first step of having a great idea that speaks to who you are and what you value, it’s time to move on to the second step: overcoming the obstacles that are keeping you from realizing that idea. You may think that the obstacles are big and plentiful, but the good news is that many of them can be overcome by thinking differently and adjusting your outlook on the challenges ahead.

For example, you or someone you know may be a perfectionist – someone who doesn’t like to take on a project unless they know it’s going to come out flawlessly. No one wants to put out bad work, but if everyone only put out work they believed was absolutely perfect, the marketplace would be pretty empty.

Everyone has fears, and being courageous is about pushing past those fears and embracing failure.

Success doesn’t eliminate a person’s fears. It just creates new worries, such as the fear of not living up to the previous success!

So it’s safe to say that everyone has fears about putting their own work out into the world, no matter who they are. This is why it’s important to really care about what you do and to have those strong values in place. It may not make the fears go away, but it should reduce them, since you’ll be less invested in how others respond.

Intentions and a strong rallying flag can help get your work to resonate with others.

Fear of failure is just one poor excuse for not doing something you really want to do. The other big reasons are not having enough time and not having enough money, but these barriers are far from insurmountable.

As far as time goes, you always have choices to make and you can always choose to prioritize one thing over another. So instead of spending time on social media, you can start writing your own book and, if you don’t have much money, you can self-publish it as an e-book, which is what Paul Jarvis did.

Find your intersection, beware of distractions and focus on your values rather than goals.

You’ve probably heard someone say it as a form of career advice: “Follow your passion.” It sounds nice, but, in reality, following your passion isn’t enough. You also need to put time and effort into developing your craft, generating as many ideas as you can and questioning whether your passion is aligned with your values.

The better advice is to find your intersection, and this happens by knowing your passion and where it intersects with your skills and how those skills help others.

Theft and copying can help you get started, but avoid mimicry and comparing your work to others.

Now that we’ve gotten the excuses out of the way, it’s time to stop procrastinating and start your own adventure. So let’s get moving on your great idea for a product or service that can truly help people and make the world a little bit better.

If you need some inspiration to get started, it’s not a bad idea to look carefully at the work of people you admire. But keep in mind that there’s a big difference between copying, theft and mimicry.

Don’t be afraid to say no, take advantage of slow times and don’t give up.

No matter what kind of adventure you’re planning to start, it all begins by taking a moment to ask yourself some important questions: What are my intentions and motivations? What are my core values? With the answers to these questions you can create your rallying flag and a mission statement that will help guide your decisions.

Getting a big project started can be overwhelming. So much so that it’s often filled with moments where you’ll be tempted to give up. So, to keep your momentum going, it’s good to figure out how you can break down the launch of the project into small, doable steps.

Final Summary

The key message in these blinks:

There’s nothing like doing your own unique work that reflects your values. Exciting, innovative work comes from people who break free from bland corporate thinking and do their own thing. Everyone, even successful people, has fears about exposing themselves to criticism and failure, but these fears can be overcome. Failure and criticism are not the end – in fact, they can be helpful in providing ways to learn, pivot and continue creating even better work.

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What is Everything I Know about?

As the title suggests, Everything I Know (2013) is a collection of what author Paul Jarvis knows, after having worked as an in-demand web designer for over 20 years. This is a compendium of insight on how to be a successful, self-employed entrepreneur with a rewarding and lasting business.

Everything I Know Review

Everything I Know (2018) by Paul Jarvis offers a refreshingly honest perspective on working and living in the digital age. Here's why this book is worth reading:

With practical advice based on real-life experience, it equips readers with strategies to navigate the modern world and thrive in their personal and professional lives.
The book challenges conventional thinking and encourages readers to question societal norms, fostering a mindset of innovation and creativity.
By sharing personal stories and insights, Jarvis creates a relatable and engaging narrative that captivates readers, making the book compelling and far from boring.

Best quote from Everything I Know

My best advice? Fuck advice and listen to yourself. Trust in your journey and learn as much as possible through first-hand experiments.

—Paul Jarvis

Who should read Everything I Know?

Freelancers and self-employed workers
Artists, writers and creative types
Anyone who wants to turn an idea into a business

About the Author

Paul Jarvis is a sought-after web designer who has worked with Fortune 500 companies and top brands such as Microsoft, Yahoo! and Mercedes-Benz. As well as having founded multiple start-ups, he continues to work as a touring musician with the band Mojave. As a writer, his work has appeared in publications such as GOOD and Fast Company. His self-published books include Write & Sell Your Damn Book and Be Awesome at Online Business.

Categories with Everything I Know

Entrepreneurship Career & Success

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