Company of One - Paul Jarvis
Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business
[bq] "It's assumed that hard work and smart thinking always result in business growth. But the opposite is often true: not all growth is beneficial, and some growth can actually reduce your resilience and autonomy."
[bq] "Blind growth is the main cause of business problems."
Company of one ideology in a few words: "start small, define growth, and keep learning."
I. Begin
1. Defining a Company of One
[bq] "A company of one is simply a business that questions growth."
Solving problems by throwing. more resources at them is often the easiest way, but not the smartest or most sustainable.
Everyone can be a company of one, even if they work for a large corporation.
[This is similar to Seth Godin's idea of a Linchpin]
Companies of once already exist in any large corporation, but in many cases their creativity and free thinking are suppressed. But if they are fostered, the whole company benefits from their innovation.
A company of one figures out how to solve bigger and bigger problems without adding "more" to them.
Resilience is one of the key predictors of success. And it's learnable.
Three traits of resilient people:
Acceptance of reality
Purpose
Ability to adapt
The autonomy and control you get in a company of one also require to actually be competent at what you do.
ROWE: Results-Only Work Environment.
Places that allow their employees complete freedom/independence in how/when their work as long as. the results benefit the company.
Companies of one require generalists rather than the traditional narrow office workers.
Can also move faster due to more efficacy and autonomy to pivot if necessary.
By necessity, companies of one have to keep things simple, but that can actually be a great benefit.
2. Staying Small as an End Goal
[bq] "Companies need to focus on becoming better instead of simply growing bigger."
[bq] "Companies of one [...] focus on stability, simplicity, independence, and long-term resilience and rely on starting small and becoming as profitable as possible, without the need for outside investment."
Growth should be a choice, made when it makes sense, not the default.
Growth is often driven by ego, not a solid business strategy.
Technology has made it more and more possible to work as a literal company of one and even compete with big corporations, all while enjoying a much more leisurely lifestyle than most office workers.
It's also becoming less and less risky, while corporate jobs are nowhere near as secure anymore as they used to be.
Deliberately putting upper bounds on goals allows you to build safety margins and have sustained growth rather than crazy short-term growth.
Envy is a big driver behind wanting to grow. But if analysed properly, can use it as a guide of what we really care about.
3. What's Required to Lead?
Leaders do't have to be extroverted type A personalities. Introverts can make at least as good leaders.
[bq] "Servant leadership requires humility, but that humility ultimately pays off."
Putting good processes and structure into place allows fewer people to do more work, and actually build the foundation for more autonomy.
Companies of one require generalists rather than specialists. Should have skills at least in:
Psychology/Empathy
Communication
Resilience
Focus
Decision-making
Hustlers don't get more (or better) work done than people with a good work-life balance.
Need to be careful and relentless to say no to everything that doesn't fit your goals.
4. Growing a Company That Doesn't Grow
Often user growth is much more expensive than user retention.
Profitability is much more important than growth.
A company of one can define "success" in a any way they want and should use that to guide their growth.
[bq] "Customer success is the cornerstone of a profitable company of one."
Especially early on, make sure you distinguish "nice to haves" from "need to haves."
Growth should be guided by profit, not projections.
Focus on better, not bigger.
II. Define
5. Determining the Right Mind-Set
To succeed as a company of one you need a real purpose, a clear why.
[q] "More and ore, one of the biggest indicators of success is purpose."
Passion, as opposed to purpose, can often be misleading. Instead should focus on trying to solve problems we care about and improving our skills. The passion often eventually follows.
[bq] "Passion doesn't precede mastery, but follows it."
Up until 1950s the word "priority" was almost exclusively used in singular form.
[bq] "Any task will take up the time we give it."
[bq] "Just as company growth should be questioned, so too should a busy schedule."
6. Personality Matters
In normal businesses we're asked to suppress our true personality for the sake of "professionalism." But a company of one can fully express this personality and it can even be a great asset.
If you can build a strong emotional connection to your brand in people, that's a huge benefit.
Doing unique and unusual things also makes your business unique and interesting.
[bq] "If we try to appeal to everyone, we won't appeal to anyone in particular, muddying our message."
Polarization can be used as a very deliberate tool.
This also weeds out customers you don't want to serve.
7. The One Customer
Companies of one can deliver customer serve that doesn't scale. They can go above and beyond with their service, get real fans, and then have them spread the word of mouth (as well as become loyal repeat customers).
[bq] "If you treat your customers like they're your one and only customer, they'll reciprocate that love for your brand."
Should treat customer service not as a cost, but and investment.
Referrals are the most powerful source of new customers.
Empathy towards your employees and customers is a huge asset.
[bq] "In short, customer happiness is the new marketing."
Need to truly listen to your customers to understand what they actually want/need.
When things go wrong, should be fully transparent and own the mistake.
[bq] "Proclaimed values are completely irrelevant without proof that those values are actually backed by corporate actions."
8. Scalable Systems
It's becoming increasingly easy, thanks to technology, to scale a company without growing the required people/resources.
Automation software and email marketing are extremely powerful tools.
Always-on, always-available is a big enemy of companies of one that need focus.
9. Teach Everything You Know
Creating educational content is a great way to build an audience that you can later sell to.
Teaching has three great benefits:
You're building a relationship with your audience
You educate your audience about what you're selling
You make sure your customers know how to make the most of your product/service and become happy long terms customers.
Many people are worried about sharing their ideas with others, but ideas alone are worthless, it's the execution that matters.
Building authority/credibility is especially important for a company of one.
III. Maintain
10. Properly Utilizing Trust and Scale
Three aspects of trust:
Confidence: "I believe what you say."
Competence: "I believe you have the skills to do what you say."
Benevolence: "I believe you're acting on my behalf."
Word of mouth creates trust by proxy.
Following up and re-engaging with customers is the best way to generate word of mouth.
[bq] "Money can be lost and won back without judgement, whereas trust is hard to regain once it's lost."
Building trust and educating people are often much more cost-effective than expensive ad-campaigns.
11. Launching and Iterating in Tiny Steps
Suggests reaching profitability as quickly as possible and then iterating from there in small steps. Should determine the minimum viable profit (MVPr).
[bq] "Focusing on growth and focusing on profit are nearly impossible to do at the same time."
Want to keep the first product/service as simple as possible to launch quickly and gather real data and user feedback as early as possible, and then iterate.
[bq] "Finding a simple solution to a big or complicated problem is your strongest asset as a company of one."
When you find yourself thinking you need more capital to do something, ask yourself what it could look like if more capital just isn't an option.
12. The Hidden Value of Relationships
People want a personal relationship with the companies they do business with, and companies of one are particularly well suited to that.
You can't buy this relationship but need to foster it with humanity and empathy.
The growth-hacking mindset is often the worst enemy of good relationships. Building relationships can require sacrificing some short-term profit/sales, but will pay back over the long term.
In addition to financial and human capital, also need to build social capital before trying to trade it in, asking people to buy something from you.
[bq] "Empathy takes a relationship from 'What can I sell you?' to 'How can I truly help you?' This is the way to bank social capital: by starting a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship."
13. Starting a Company of One - My Story
Building your own company of one is not for everyone. Your have to do a lot of admin/marketing/sales work besides your actual core work.
Also the freedom you get (and discipline you need) might not be best for everyone.
Good place to start is offering people free advice without trying to push your service. Builds relationships but also teaches you about your target audience.
Should get some minimal legal and financial advice by hiring lawyer and accountant as contractors.
Afterword: Never Grow Up
Maybe should spend more time focusing on and "exist strategy" rather than an exit strategy.
[bq] "To add more is basically an effort to fix an existing problem without first looking at its causes."