Company of one-by Paul Jarvis

This book is a very refreshing approach to running a successful business that focuses on getting better rather than bigger! Its a must read for all entrepreneurs who value quality of life & quality of their service.

In below excerpt from the book, Paul questions every traditional approach to running a business-it makes one think-what if? Read on:

‘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 your autonomy. just as I learned new skills in self-sufficiency that were far outside my realm of knowledge, companies of one can to the same. Indeed, they’ll need to in order to stand out and thrive.

In truth, embracing growth appears to be the easier route more often than not, since it’s easier to throw “more” at any problem that might pop up. Want more customers? Hire more employees. Need more revenue? Spend more. Fielding more support request? Build a bigger support team. But scaling up might not be the best or smartest solution to the basic problem. As a means to generating higher profits, what if you acquired more customers simply by creating more efficiency, so you didn’t have to hire more people? What if you generated more revenue by finding a way to spend less (again, for higher profits)? What if you responded to the growth in support requests by finding a better way to teach your customers how to use what you sell, so they didn’t have to ask questions as often? What if you didn’t have to work more hours to finish a project but just more efficiently, so you could then enjoy more of your life away from work?

Growth, in the typical business sense, isn’t always a smart strategy if it’s followed blindly. Much of the research reported in the book will strongly suggest that blind growth is the main cause of business problems. It can leave you with an unmaintainable number of employees, unsustainable costs, and more work than hours in a day. It can force you to lay off employees, sell your company at a less than optimal price, or even worse, close-up shop completely.?

What if you worked instead toward growing smaller, smarter, more efficient, and more resilient?’