Company of One

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.

The Company of One book is a refreshingly new approach centred on staying small and avoiding growth. 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.

Learn more at https://ofone.co

In this episode I talk to Jason Fried, founder of Basecamp, about a common misconception that people have about the VC/Silicon Valley/Tech world. The reason this misconception exists is because popular media glamourizes and even fetishizes it to the point where it seems so ultimately desirable to have an idea, grow it quickly as a business that constantly outspends its earnings, and sell that business for unfathomable amounts of money. What if, Jason argues, instead of all that we focused more on existing as a profitable and longterm business, instead of trying to make an exit from it as soon as possible?

Learn more at https://ofone.co

Today I’m talking to Spencer Fry, the founder of Podia and we’re duking it out (to the death) on the topic of venture capital. I figured the best way to share a more rounded view on this subject would be talk through taking funding with a friend whom I respect and like (that’s Spencer, we didn’t really fight to the death here).

Learn more at https://ofone.co

In this episode we’ll hear from Dan Provost, 50% of the Studio Neat team. They started in 2010 with a piece of hardware, called a Glif, that mounted a smartphone onto a standard camera tripod. They were aiming for $10k for the campaign and ended up reaching almost $140k. They rebooted the Glif in 2016 and raised $208k, passing their $50k goal in less than a day.

Their ridiculous success on Kickstarter isn’t the story here though. What’s interesting about Studio Neat is that the company is just two people: Dan and his business partner Tom. That’s it. Their office is a garage behind Tom’s backyard in Austin, Texas.

They’ve been able to build a company of one, with two people, shipping thousands of orders at a time after successful crowdfunding campaigns, and make the whole thing work without sacrificing having a good life. They embody the ideas and mindset of thriving as a company of one.e without scaling his company.

Learn more at https://ofone.co

In this episode we’ll hear from Danielle LaPorte. She’s a bestselling author, podcaster and entrepreneur who’s also a member of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100. What I love about Danielle is that she’s equal parts poet and business badass.

Danielle has lived the company of one model for business, then outgrown it, then shifted back towards it. In the following audio passage, we’re going to hear her hit on a trend I’ve seen in many other online businesses: where continual growth is wanted, and the best way to achieve it is through paid acquisition channels, like social media ads. And then, once you’re doing that, you’re at the mercy of their access and pricing. Here’s Danielle talking about growing her own business beast and then how she was forced to slay it.

Learn more at https://ofone.co

I’m Paul Jarvis and this is a preview of Company of One, a new podcast that explores what happens when businesses challenge the traditional idea that bigger is always better. A show where I break from the idea that growth in revenue, customers and employees is always the byproduct of success and focus instead on what it means to create richer and more fulfilling careers and businesses that don’t require exponential growth in all directions at all times.