Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business

Sometimes finding and working with a single customer, then adding another, and then another, is a very useful and solid way to begin. And sometimes that can even be the end goal — one where your focus is on the relationship and the paid work at hand. Sometimes the best plan is focused on your current customers’ success, not on chasing leads and gro

The first strategy is to make fewer and better commitments to customers. A business that believes it should “underpromise and overdeliver” sometimes fails to even simply deliver on par with expectations.

It wasn’t until years later — when I sent a survey to more than 10,000 customers asking why they bought my products — that I realized that my personality was the number-one factor in their decision to purchase from my business and not from someone else. As much as they wanted to buy the products I was selling, they wanted to buy them from me in par

As a company of one, it’s easy to mentally beat yourself up for not accomplishing enough during a day. But how often do you take into account how rare it is, between doing your core work and managing your business, to have a full day, every day, to sit and work without interruptions? You may be failing to realize how much of your schedule is taken

Especially in a company of one, where you aren’t the largest player in your niche and probably not the cheapest, using your quirks and standing for something can be exactly how and why you gain customers’ attention.

Money is why a lot of companies of one begin as side projects: their path to MVPr in order to cover the founder’s expenses can take a bit of time. I offset my own living expenses at first by living at home with my parents (hey, I was only nineteen), and then by taking a few years to slowly transition fully from services to products — and not until

In studying how trust is built between companies and consumers, Urban has found that there are three aspects of trust: confidence (“I believe what you say”), competence (“I believe you have the skills to do what you say”), and benevolence (“I believe you’re acting on my behalf”).

But to stay a company of one and stick to the definition of success you’ve set for yourself and your leadership, you will have to turn down opportunities that aren’t a good fit. Companies of one need to be relentless in what they say no to, since plans, tasks, distractions, meetings, and emails, though they may all seem productive to a team at firs

I’ve personally seen the most success in my life when I’ve figured out solutions to problems without having to do what traditional businesses do to solve problems — hire more people, throw more money at the problem, or build complex infrastructures to support the extra employees.