Company Of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business

by Paul Jarvis

he’d stop working when he hit his “enough” amount and travel for the rest of the year. He didn’t want to grow his accounting business into a bigger company with employees and offices in every city. If he did, his “enough” number would also grow,

His focus in his business was being better, not growing bigger.

I knew what I needed to make to cover my business and my life, so I could decide to slow down when I reached “enough” as well.

is to become better in ways that don’t incur the typical setbacks of growth. You can scale up revenue, enjoyment, raving fans, focus, autonomy, and experiences while resisting the urge to blindly scale up employee payroll, expenses, and stress levels.

Sometimes “enough” or even less is all we need, since “more” too often equates to more stress, more problems,

Solving with “more” means more complexity,

More is generally the easiest answer, but not the smartest.

you’re essentially the only person who looks out for your own best interests and continued employment.

If you’re a company of one, your mind-set is to build your business around your life, not the other way around.

Growth, especially blind growth, isn’t the best solution to any problem a business might face. And going further, growing your business might actually be the worst decision you could make for the longevity of your business.

His company found that the level of resilience a person exhibits determines their success in business, far more than their level of education, training, or experience.

The first trait that resilient people have is an acceptance

The second characteristic of resilient people is a sense of purpose

The last trait of resilient people in a company of one is the ability to adapt when things change—because they invariably do.

what’s difficult to automate is exactly what makes a company of one great: the ability to creatively solve problems in new and unique ways without throwing “more” at the problem.

you have to have a skill set, or a combination of skills, that’s in demand. With a well-developed skill set, you’ll know what areas will benefit from growth and what potential places for growth don’t make sense.

When you’re starting out and your skills aren’t as developed, you won’t be able to lead projects or be too picky about the type of work you do. But as your expertise increases and your network grows, you can land better clients—the kind who listen more carefully to how you would do what they’re paying you to do—and you can be more selective about the types of customers and projects you want to take on.

Whether growth is truly beneficial to your business How you could solve business problems without just adding “more” Whether you really need funding or venture capital for your idea, or are simply thinking too big to start

Sean feels that his job as a business owner is not to endlessly increase profits, or even to defeat the competition, but instead to create better and better products and services that his customers benefit from in their lives and work.

Sean is absolutely certain that his end goal is to keep his business small. He questions the blind growth mind-set because he doesn’t require it. If he were to double his profits, like his friend was trying to do, how much more work would be involved? How would that extra work affect his family or his life overall? Sean doesn’t want that complexity, the added stress and responsibility.

the question is always what can I do to make my business better?, instead of what can I do to grow my business larger?

There’s nothing wrong with finding the right size and then focusing on being better. Small can be a long-term plan, not just a stepping-stone.

Most businesses set goals and targets, but few consider having an upper bound to them.

In an ancient language from India called Pali, there’s a term, “mudita,” which seems like the opposite of envy, because it means “to delight in the good fortunes or the accomplishments of others.”

How you could turn envy of others into enjoying their successes and learning from them

A leader’s job is to provide clear direction and then get out of the way.

You need to know how and why people make decisions about your products or services. What leads them to buy what you create? What makes them hesitate? Where do they place value in their lives? If they do buy from you, what is considered a win for them? Where does churn happen in your business and why?

Miles Kington, a British journalist, reportedly said that “knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” We should never assume that having an abundance of knowledge is the same as having an abundance of wisdom.

In saying no to anything that doesn’t fit, you leave room to say yes to those rare opportunities that do fit—opportunities that align with the values and ideas of your business.

It’s crazy to assume that any one person can take on all of the stress and demands of a leadership role, and sometimes even the weight of an entire company, without having someone else to talk with and to help debug problems.

Even companies of one should never try to do everything or deal with everything alone. And even working for yourself doesn’t have to mean working by yourself.

leaders feel that they are required to detach from human relationships and focus on using people as resources to achieve necessary growth by any means necessary. The problem is that a leader who stops feeling what is either motivating or demotivating within their team stops being able to lead.

Where you could strike a balance between autonomy and guidance

Why did they buy? What motivated them to do so? How can I keep them happy? And most important: How can I help them succeed?

customers really don’t care if you’re profitable. But if what you sell them can help them become profitable, they’ll never want to leave your business.

Customer success is the cornerstone of a profitable company of one.

your scope of influence can start small—say, with being able to program in Java

by having the expertise to make sound decisions around Android for your whole team. Your scope of influence can potentially increase to become industry-wide

Junior programmers just starting at the company are given only tasks to do, not any ownership on a project, along with responsibility for doing the work, learning, and being mentored by others. As their careers continue, they’ll be able to own specific projects within their team—and be accountable for the deliverables associated with those projects.

How you could prioritize your existing customers or transform them into repeat customers

A well-cited 2003 study of college students at the University of Quebec by Robert Vallerand found that they were more passionate about sports, arts, and music than anything they were studying. Unfortunately, only 3 percent of all jobs can be found in the sports, music, and art industries. And just because you’re passionate about, say, tennis doesn’t mean you can become the next Serena Williams, no matter how hard you try. “Follow your passion” is irresponsible business advice.

Her passion came after her hard work—as a result of it—not the other way around.

The first is that they were skilled at what they did before they took a leap—so skilled that they were doing well enough that if their leap to something new faltered, they’d still be okay. Not to mention that what they leaped to was completely built off the skills they were currently using and that were already in demand.

The second missing ingredient in their account of successfully “following their passion” is that they were able to test their leap with a smaller jump before they climbed to the top of the highest platform.

they did a small jump first to make sure they could land it (that is, they made sure there was enoug...

Of course, “courage” and “passion” sound better and more romantic than “skills” and “viability tests.”

but they always come at a cost—in terms of time, attention, or resources. No matter how hard you try, you can’t scale the amount of time in your day.

A Microsoft Research study found that attempting to focus on more than one priority at a time reduces productivity by as much as 40 percent,

The automaker Henry Ford instituted eight-hour shifts in his factory in 1914. An early advocate for breaking the day into thirds (work, sleep, family),

The best marketing is never just about selling a product or service, but about taking a stand—showing an audience why they should believe in what you’re marketing enough to want it at any cost, simply because they agree with what you’re doing.