“If you don’t think it’s possible to do better, or you don’t care if it is, there’s no point doing your own thing. In that case, it’s fine to work for someone else—they’re already established and have people handling the jobs you probably don’t want to be doing anyway.”

For companies of one, making the business better is a greater priority than making it larger.A business remaining small can be a long-term plan and not just a stepping stone to a larger establishment.

Staying Small In the Long Term

“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?”

“You can pursue any passion you want, but you shouldn’t feel entitled to make money off it. Passion in work comes from first crafting a valuable skill set and mastering your work. This is great news, because it means you no longer have to beat yourself up for not finding your true, hidden passions. Instead, you can simply get to work.”

A customer’s success is the business’s success.Exceeding the standards of customer service by treating customers like they’re extremely important and adding personal touches gives the customer a positive emotional experience, making a company stand out.The company of one’s ability to establish close and personal relationships with customers makes it possible for them to benefit from word of mouth. Customers love to be rewarded for loyalty.

The One Customer

Being a company of one requires you to build your work around your life, not the other way around.The four recurring characteristics of companies of one are:<ul><li>Resilience</li><li>Autonomy and Control</li><li>Speed</li><li>Simplicity.</li></ul>Companies of one should be normalized because you will always be better than anyone at looking out for your own best interest, even in a large corporation.

The Company of One

<ul><li>How to prioritize existing customers or transform them into repeat customers</li><li>Make your business idea vision as small as possible such that you can take action now with little or no investment</li><li>Growth as a business or an individual won’t require you to do things you don’t want to do.</li></ul>

Things to Consider When Growing a Company of One

<ul><li>Introverts can make great leaders for companies of one.</li><li>Companies of one are required to have knowledge of varied subjects and possess multiple skills to achieve their goals.</li><li>A company of one needs to know how to gauge what potential customers think of their products and services.</li><li>Resilience is key in helping a team reenergize when the business faces a setback.</li><li>A leader of a company of one will find himself learning how to say no as a strategy to keep his priorities in order.</li></ul>

Companies of One: What’s Required to Lead

“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 is easier to sell to people with whom you have already built a rapport. It will not be embarrassing to talk about your product to people who genuinely care for you and your journey. This is the power of building strong long-term relationships.Customers are interested in who the business owner is as a person. Empathy makes your customers feel you care about making them happy more than you care about making a sale.

The Hidden Value of Relationships

What if the real key to a richer and more fulfilling career was not to create and scale a new start-up, but rather, to be able to work for yourself, determine your own hours, and become a (highly profitable) and sustainable company of one? Suppose the better—and smarter—solution is simply to remain small? This book explains how to do just that. Company of One is a refreshingly new approach centered on staying small and avoiding growth, for any size business. Not as a freelancer who only gets paid on a per piece basis, and not as an entrepreneurial start-up that wants to scale as soon as possible, but as a small business that is deliberately committed to staying that way. By staying small, one can have freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and avoid the headaches that result from dealing with employees, long meetings, or worrying about expansion. Company of One introduces this unique business strategy and explains how to make it work for you, including how to generate cash flow on an ongoing basis. Paul Jarvis left the corporate world when he realized that working in a high-pressure, high profile world was not his idea of success. Instead, he now works for himself out of his home on a small, lush island off of Vancouver, and lives a much more rewarding and productive life. He no longer has to contend with an environment that constantly demands more productivity, more output, and more growth. In Company of One, Jarvis explains how you can find the right pathway to do the same, including planning how to set up your shop, determining your desired revenues, dealing with unexpected crises, keeping your key clients happy, and of course, doing all of this on your own.

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What if the real key to a more fulfilling career was not to scale up but to work for yourself and become a successful and sustainable company of one? The New York Times bestselling author of Deep Work Cal Newport calls this book a “must-read for any entrepreneur who prioritizes a rich life over riches.” Company of One offers a refreshingly original business strategy that’s focused on a commitment to being better instead of bigger. Why? Because staying small provides one with the freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life—and avoid the headaches that come with traditional growth-oriented business. Having personally discovered the benefits of cutting out the corporate hierarchy that constantly demands more, author Paul Jarvis explains how you can do the same. With this groundbreaking guide, you’ll learn how to set up your shop, determine your desired revenues, deal with unexpected crises, keep your key clients happy, and find self-fulfillment every step of the way.

PAUL JARVIS

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