Company of One - Paul Jarvis

Suppose the key to a better life is to work for yourself, determine your own schedule and have a highly rich and sustainable company. Imagine that the best solution, and the smartest, is to keep your small business. Paul Jarvis teaches why to do it in the book "Company of One".

He proposes that to have a rewarding and productive life, you purposely keep your company small. That way you will avoid headaches, like deal with employees, meetings and excessive concerns with the company's expansion.

You no longer have to face an environment that constantly demands more productivity, more production and more growth. Jarvis explains how to find the way to start your company, determine revenues, deal with crises and of course, all this on your own.

"Company Of One" presents an unique business strategy and teaches you how this will work for you, including how to generate cash flow on an ongoing basis. Got interested in the content? Stay with us in this summary!

About the book "Company of One"

The book "Company Of One", released in 2019, was written by Paul Jarvis. This book shows how to improve your quality of life by maintaining a small company, a company of one.

According to Chris Guillebeau, author of "The $100 Startup":

"If you've never wondered how to have a business that works for you, you need this book."

About the author Paul Jarvis

Paul Jarvis is an expert in the world of online technology and, over the years, he has had clients such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Mercedes-Benz, Warner Music, and even Shaquille O'Neal. He currently teaches online courses, hosts several podcasts, and develops software from his home on an island in the Canada coast.

To whom is this book indicated?

"Company Of One" is intended for everyone who wants to improve their quality of life as it will teach you how to build your business and keep it small. This will bring you independence, income and a lot of free time without the hassles of having to manage processes, plan meetings and deal with corporate stress.

Jarvis's ideas will lead you to discover what it takes to become the CEO of your own business.

Main ideas of the book "Company of One"

• If you want to do this as a "solopreneur", you need to keep your company small and limit its growth. "Solopreneur" is someone who decides to risk alone as an entrepreneur, that is, a single person is responsible for creating the business, tracing strategies and doing all the necessary management;
• The lower your audience, the greater your chances of success;
• With the technological advancements you do not need big investments to start your business and it is possible to make money fast.

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Overview: Do not quit your current job

Before you leave your current job, to dedicate yourself exclusively to your "Company of One", your business must grow in parallel, that is, while you remain in your job, you will develop your company sustainably.

To illustrate this idea, let's go the story of Tom Fishburne, who worked with marketing for 20 years. As a kid, Tom always liked drawing cartoons, but at first he only did it for fun, until he started selling his designs to other companies.

Fishburne only quite as a marketing executive when he was able to build a client list and save enough money to cover his expenses for the two-month low case.

Tom Fishburne, through his drawings, invoices two to three times more compared to his previous job, doing what he loves and enjoying his time with his family.

Tom runs the "Marketoonist" business with his wife. Sometimes they hire freelancers as they need, but that's the limit he imposes for the expansion of the business.

Jarvis says that if the growth of your company means making sacrifices, it should be unacceptable to you, it means that your company has reached the limit of growth.

With that, we are going to the next step of the journey.

Overview: Turn Your Job into Your Passion

Well, someone probably already gave you a hint about the job you should choose: "follow your passion". However, there is a small problem with that, you can only make this concept a reality if you are passionate about something that is marketable. Otherwise, it will not be a financially viable option.

Instead, Paul Jarvis asks us: "What do you do well and what other people will pay you to do?" If the answer is "nothing" or "I don't know", then what could you do better and make it a tradable skill?

For the author of this book, it was web design. Jarvis was not in love with it, he just became good at it.

Paul improved his skills and became better and better. As he did his work and watched the results, he felt contented and enthusiastic.

In other words, instead of trying to turn your passion into a form of work, focus on identifying and developing marketable skills. Allow your passion to come in the form of work, results and development.

Overview: Focus on a specific audience and find your niche

Well, after identifying your marketable skills set, you might think: "The more individuals crave my product or service, the better." You are right, however, you must be careful, trying to conquer everybody, you can end up not conquering anyone.

Keep in mind that bigger markets lead to bigger bids, which reduce the chance for you to stand out.

So, look for a niche. The more specific your audience is, the easier it will be to connect and build trust with them. And, the more diverse your needs are, the easier it will become to learn how to satisfy them.

That's exactly what Kurt Elster did. Kurt started to offer consulting to e-commerce businesses, and general consulting, but the target audience is huge.

Instead, he decided to change his mind. He now offers consulting exclusively to companies that use the Shopify platform, which is an e-commerce platform. With that, Kurt increased his revenue by more than eight times.

Another way to look at this is: if you own a company in Shopify, it's much better to hire someone who's specialized, who's extremely familiar with the platform, rather than someone who's a generalist, right? Of course, it is not just for this case.

Overview: The Powers of Simplicity and Personality

The purpose of this section is to increase the focus of your product or service. There are two strategies you can adopt: simplicity and personality.

Let's use as an example the Casper, a company that sells mattresses online. Well, Casper's target audience is already specific, it's young people who want a good night sleep, but they want to avoid the hassle of going to a physical mattress store.

Unlike its competitors, which offer a wide variety of mattresses, Caster offers only three styles for its customers. That way the online company narrowed target audience and simplified the options.

The second strategy is to use an aspect that your competitors can not use, which is your personality. Integrate your personality into your work, make it present in everything you do, from product design or service delivery to your conversations with your customers.

Remember that simplicity is the key. Describe your brand, using your personality, with simple adjectives, such as "elegant", "exciting", "competent". Use an authentic expression of who you are.

What do other authors say about it?

In their research, the authors of the book "Built to Last", Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, found that most visionary companies did not start with a revolutionary idea that made them succeed right at the beginning. In fact, they had a slow start and, over time, managed to dominate their markets.

In the book "Zero to One", the author Peter Thiel gives the following tip: when there is competition, companies do not have power over the market. Therefore, they must sell their products at the market-regulated price, or they will be massacred by the competition. When you stop the monopoly, you are the one who dictates the rules.

Finally, in the book "Winning", Jack Welch says that we should always seek quality in our professional life. If you are not satisfied with your job, find a job that provides enthusiasm in your career. It is very important that you do not settle and leave the comfort zone.

Okay, but how can I apply this to my life?

The "Company Of One" are companies that purposely remain small, with the purpose of providing income, independence and balance between personal and professional life.

For starters, being a freelancer is a good option, also helping in the development of your marketable skills.

You do not have to own a company to start applying the "Company Of One" ideas. The advice given by Paul Jarvis is applicable for both large and small companies. Just as for individuals who belong to such companies.

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