Company of One

Publisher's Summary

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.

©2019 Paul Jarvis (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Captures my biz philosophy and gives me guideposts

I started my company of one three years ago. I reached viability quickly in the first year, had increased well beyond my highest salary in the second year, and continued double digit growth in the third, staying cashflow positive and profitable throughout as I expanded. I am at the phase where my business is and will remain viable. I can continue carefully growing, but I am ambivalent at best about adding employees, and I want to be more selective and continue tailoring to the work I find most engaging. I am also exploring the issue of moving from service delivery (all of my revenue is my own direct service and expertise) to developing monetizable associated products. My business represents my personality and beliefs, but I am also trying to figure out how to continue defining those and aligning the business to the beliefs. So this book is really perfectly timed for me. This book could have more details tailored to where I am at, but I think it's enough of an entre that I will check out Paul's podcast and community. I also recommended this book to a small circle of women entrepreneurs I'm in (almost all of whom are companies of one) for discussion and I can't wait to talk about it with them. The details for people just beginning are better, but of course I didn't have this book three years ago!

I think it might have been advisable for Paul to use a professional narrator but given the content and premise I also understand why he did it himself. There is some odd halting and there are awkward pauses, but at the same time it's his voice, and so it makes sense that it's his voice. I would have done the same, so I cannot blame him much.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

This is a premise, not a book

"Less is more". There, I saved you a credit.

This could have been a very decent 20 minutes presentation. However, on his effort to make it a 7+ hours audiobook, the author had no other choice but to be repetitive, throw in a bunch of anecdotical evidence, and cite dozens of googled studies to prove his points. The advice given is pretty obvious if you have even a modicum of business experience and probably doesn't apply to several industries that require scale for profitability.

I like Paul but this is fluffy and boring.

I like Paul but this is fluffy and most important, boring. His nasal voice doesn't help neither.

finally something different

if you thought you were the only crazy one you are not alone, great book for the new breed of entrepreneurs

A great book for budding entrepreneurs

This book was a wonderful treatise on running a lifestyle business on your in terms. A++ would recommend.