Company of One

November 5, 2018
Entrepreneurs feeling abashed that their businesses haven’t grown to the Fortune 500 level should relax—sometimes slow or no growth is the right approach, argues consultant Jarvis in this persuasive manual. A “company of one” is a business that “questions growth,” the business world’s default strategy; while pursuing growth may be the most intuitive decision to make, Jarvis observes that it’s not always the best one. Aggressive growth means an increase in operating costs, organizational complexity, and responsibilities for management, which doesn’t suit everyone. Staying small, meanwhile, doesn’t have to be the prelude to something bigger, but can be the whole strategy. Using case studies and (refreshingly briefly) his own story—of working as a website designer, first for an agency and then for himself—Jarvis walks readers through the steps of cultivating a company that intentionally doesn’t grow: determining what motivates one beyond generating a profit; building a “scalable,” or appropriately sized, infrastructure; starting and developing the company at a workable pace; and satisfying customers all the while. Though somewhat light, Jarvis’s soothing guide is a good reminder that chasing the million-customer mark is not the right choice for every entrepreneur. Agent: Lucinda Blumenfeld, Lucinda Literary.

November 15, 2018
How to stay small and succeed in business."Blind growth is the main cause of business problems," writes online-tech veteran Jarvis (Everything I Know, 2013, etc.), whose corporate clients include Microsoft and Mercedes Benz. "What if you worked instead toward growing smaller, smarter, more efficient, and more resilient?" In this upbeat, anecdote-laden how-to book, he draws on some 20 years of experience (and steadily increasing income) to describe the advantages of running a "company of one," whether as an independent business person or an autonomous, innovative corporate employee who deliberately questions growth and stays "lean and agile" on purpose. The payoffs are many: A marketing vice president becomes a cartoonist (his lifelong hobby) and earns three times as much income; the owner of Milkwood Designs makes regular retreats to a Sierra Nevada yurt. It all takes hard, focused work characterized by resilience, autonomy, speed, and simplicity. "There's a silent movement to approaching business in this way," writes Jarvis, emphasizing the importance of staying small, with set yearly profit goals. Many of his examples are modern, often dot-com businesses run by individuals unafraid of celebrating their quirkiness as a way to build trust and relationships with customers. They eschew obsessive growth (occasioned by inflation, investors, churn, and ego) and instead work to keep existing customers by getting better (rather than bigger) and offering "a real relationship" based on "trust, humanity, and empathy." "Companies of one can be led and run by quiet, thoughtful, introspective folks" who are bad at managing others, writes the author, a self-confessed "awkward geek." He notes federal records show that in 2015, more than 38,000 "companies (of one) were bringing in seven-figure revenues, doing everything from the usual high-tech and scientific fields to equipment repair and laundry services." Many such firms "share and give away their ideas freely," becoming trusted advisers to their customers through teaching, podcasts, and other means.A bright, useful entry in the small-is-beautiful genre.

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