A company of one is a business that questions traditional, infinite growth, because growth isn’t always the most beneficial or financially viable move. bq] "If you treat your customers like they're your one and only customer, they'll reciprocate that love for your brand."

A company of one is small, which makes these micro-businesses extremely agile. As a result, they can often adapt rapidly to changing realities and have a consistent sense of purpose. Another benefit of this agility is less bureaucracy. For example, you don’t have to run your decisions by a board of executives or shareholders. For someone who is considering starting a business and knows next to nothing about it, this book is a great introduction to figuring out business goals that are sane and meaningful, and getting your feet wet. For me, it was pretty much rehashing of things I've been doing for a long time, and just confirmation that I'm on the right path. That's not what I look for in a full length book. If I'm going to spend so much time with it, I want it to challenge me and inspire me to evolve. Sadly this one didn't do that. Remember: the goal is to build the life you’ve always dreamed about, and not the company you won’t stop working for. Amplification: singling out a unique characteristic of your/your company personality and leaning on it to show yourself fully. The 4-Hour Workweek By Timothy Ferriss. Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world.Another aspect of the company of one mindset is the difference between passion and purpose. You must have more than passion alone to succeed. Paul is a veteran of the online tech world and, over the years, has worked with such clients as Microsoft, Yahoo, Mercedes-Benz, Warner Music and even Shaquille O'Neal. He has over 25 years of design and writing experience. He also wrote a wildly successful weekly newsletter called The Sunday Dispatches (some articles from that list have been re-posted here). In 2003, as summed up in his article “ On the Psychology of Passion: In Search of What Makes People’s Lives Most Worth Living,” Robert Vallerand did a wide-ranging study of college students at the University of Quebec. His goal–to find out their passions. How you could start your own company of one right now, with some first version of what you want to do

You should aim to hit your MVPr (Minimum Viable Profit). Profit happens when the business is making enough money to cover a full-time salary for the owner(s). This is the “minimum” part of MVPr. Viability is when MVPr either continues to support that one person long-term or increases with time. You no longer have to face an environment that constantly demands more productivity, more production and more growth. Jarvis explains how to find the way to start your company, determine revenues, deal with crises and of course, all this on your own. Especially in a company of one, where you aren’t the largest player in your niche and probably not the cheapest, using your personality and standing for something can be how and why you gain customers’ attention.

To succeed as a company of one, you have to have a real underlying purpose. You can’t fake your purpose. It’s how your business acts and represents itself and your values put into action. As a company of one, avoid blind user growth and concentrate instead on retaining, pleasing, and helping your customers. Renewals is often a far more important metric to measure. In the long run, this approach costs far less and aids your company far more.

Putting good processes and structure into place allows fewer people to do more work, and actually build the foundation for more autonomy. What if you hit your income figure but want to keep working? Jarvis warns you to expect tougher times ahead because more profit often equals more problems. For companies of one, the question is always ‘what can I do to make my business better?’, instead of ‘what can I do to grow my business larger?’ Counterintuitively to everything you know about business, Sean is only interested in reaching his target limit, never exceeding it. For the author of this book, it was web design. Jarvis was not in love with it, he just became good at it.

Have a clear purpose guiding your business decisions. A key tenet of that purpose is that you must decide you want to remain small, even in the face of an opportunity to grow. Well, after identifying your marketable skills set, you might think: "The more individuals crave my product or service, the better." You are right, however, you must be careful, trying to conquer everybody, you can end up not conquering anyone. This is a comprehensive summary of the book Company of One by Paul Jarvis (part of the business book summaries collection). Covering the key ideas and proposing practical ways for achieving what’s mentioned in the text. Written by book fanatic and online librarian Ivaylo Durmonski. Leaders do't have to be extroverted type A personalities. Introverts can make at least as good leaders.

For example, if you are passionate about drawing, and you believe you’re good at it, then why not follow Paul Jarvis’ path and try a career in web design? Be creative, best on people, be unique. it's basically a good book about what we can do to have a good life without working in corp. you can be huge but you do not need to have 1 000 empl. Another way to look at this is: if you own a company in Shopify, it's much better to hire someone who's specialized, who's extremely familiar with the platform, rather than someone who's a generalist, right? Of course, it is not just for this case. Overview: The Powers of Simplicity and Personality Companies of one earn money off of their products, which means that they have a passive income as well. Simplicity: Larger companies are more complex; for companies of one, simplicity is mandatory. Companies of One vs. Small Businesses vs. Freelancing

BOOK SUMMARY

One person doesn’t have to run a company of one. You could start up a company of one with your partner, your closest friends, or your most brilliant colleagues. The only feature that it must have is that it needs to be kept small. The Benefits of a Company of One For the owner of a company of one, growth equals decline. Success, on the other hand, means sustaining a particular income level. That income level is something you get to define.