#323 Jimmy Buffett

About this episode

What I learned from reading Jimmy Buffett: A Good Life All the Way by Ryan White and A Pirate Looks at Fifty by Jimmy Buffett. ---- Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- (8:00) Q: What are you going to do with your life? A: Live a pretty interesting one. (10:00) A lesson that his grandfather taught him: The only thing standing between Jimmy and the world would be a lack of imagination an an over abundance of caution. All he had to do was leap and the world would be his. (13:00) There is a lot of Mark Twain in Jimmy Buffett. Lighting Out for the Territory: How Samuel Clemens Headed West and Became Mark Twain by Roy Morris Jr. (Founders #312)  (13:30) There was nothing normal about me. My drive was not normal. My vision of where I wanted to go in life was not normal. The whole idea of a conventional existence was like Kryptonite to me. — Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Founders #141) (15:00) Jimmy Buffett and Warren Buffett: Their lives are illustrations of the power of compounding. (16:30) A hit song was nice. But owning the publishing on a hit song was even better. (17:30) Decoded by Jay Z. (Founders #238) (19:30) You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something. — Steve Jobs (24:00) If you want to create and capture lasting value, don’t build an undifferentiated commodity business. — Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Futureby Peter Thiel (Founders #278) (28:00) It is ironic that I was never categorizable and now I’m a category. — Jimmy Buffett (28:00) Billy asked me who I saw myself like in today's music scene. I told him, nobody. I really didn't see myself like anybody. What really set me apart in these days was my repertoire. It was more formidable than the rest of the players. There were a lot of better musicians around but there wasn't anybody close in nature to what I was doing. — Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan. (Founders #259) (29:00) No one is ever eager to fix a cash machine that isn't broken. (29:00) You can’t sell a bagless vacuum cleaner to people that make $500 million a year selling vacuum bags. — Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson(Founders #300) (31:00) Something that grows exponentially can become so valuable that it's worth making an extraordinary effort to get it started. — Paul Graham How to Do Great Work (Founders #314) (36:00) My description of Jimmy Buffett: -Blue collar work ethic -Learning machine -Loves it -Won’t quit (37:00) The Business of Phish (42:00) What Jimmy Buffett and Kanye West have in common Some say he arrogant. Can y'all blame him? It was straight embarrassing how y'all played him Last year shoppin' my demo, I was tryna shine Every motherfucker told me that I couldn't rhyme Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams (46:00) Jimmy kept the main thing the main thing:  “I don't give a shit what happens 22 and a half hours of the day. The only thing that matters is the 90 minutes that we're on stage.” (1:04:00) That's what's wrong with the world these days. Nobody wants to put in the time it takes to be legendary. Mythology is not fast food. (1:05:00) Margaritaville Holdings intuitively adopted the asset-light model, where it licenses its intellectual property to owners and operators via franchise agreements (1:09:00) There is nobody who understands who Jimmy Buffett is and what Jimmy Buffett does better than Jimmy Buffett.  ---- “I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast