Growing your business, while staying small: Interview with author Paul Jarvis
by Lidia Varesco Racoma of Lidia Varesco Design
As I’ve traveled along my 18-year small business path, I felt like there was an expectation that once you hit a certain point, you have to grow your business: become an agency, hire staff, move into an office, focus only on large clients.
As a mom of two kids under 7 years old, I made the decision that, in this stage of my life, I want my branding and marketing design studio to “stay small.” I need to have a flexible schedule to manage the needs of small children — and frankly I don’t want to be responsible for the well-being of another human being right now.
So, I was thrilled when I came across Paul Jarvis’ book Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business. He believes that you can intentionally “stay small,” yet still run a profitable and rewarding small business.
Here’s a chat I had with Paul about how he decided to “stay small” and why it works for his business — and life.
Interview with Paul Jarvis, author of Company of One
- What led you to decide to become a “company of one?” Was there a defining moment?
At first, I felt alone in my assumption that more isn’t always better. But then, during the writing of the book, I found that there is an amassing army of others who feel very much the same, and whose business decisions are backed up with growing research and studies. It turns out that some of the most successful brand name companies and individuals are companies of one at heart.
Living in Tofino, years ago, gave me the opportunity to take up a daily ritual of going for a morning surf. One day I was out in the lineup (the place just in front of the breaking waves where surfers wait to catch rides) with my freelancer accountant friend. We were sitting out there, waiting for the next decent wave, and he turned to me and said, “I’m stoked! I’ve just about made enough to take the rest of the year off to go rock climbing.” It was August. Puzzled by what he said, I missed the next few waves that rolled by. Once he paddled back to the lineup, where I still was, he explained that he had calculated what he needed to make in profit in order to cover his cost of living and put a decent amount of money into investments.
He had figured out the amount of wealth he needed to be comfortable and didn’t feel the need to accumulate more.
Past that, he didn’t need any more money — so he’d stop working when he hit his “enough” amount and travel for the rest of the year. He didn’t want to grow his accounting business into a bigger company with employees and offices in every city. If he did, his “enough” number would also grow, from having to manage more employees and a bigger business. He wouldn’t be able to spend as much time rock climbing (or surfing).
His focus in his business was being better, not growing bigger.
I quickly began to realize that I had adopted a similar mind-set for ages as well: I knew what I needed to make to cover my business and my life, so I could decide to slow down when I reached “enough” as well.
Once I started talking about this message people started to say they felt the same or similar. I know it was a message that needed to be shared.
2. What is your favorite thing about staying small in business?
Being too small to fail.
I live a simple and comfortable life that’s easily supported by my business. My products don’t have to generate much to cover business and personal expenses. So when the economy is great, things are covered. When the economy is on a downturn there’s either more than enough saved up or since not very much gross revenue is required, I can still cover things.
3. What are some of the benefits you’ve observed in other companies who have stayed small?
Running a small business doesn’t mean staying small for the sake of being small. It means staying small when it makes sense to be small and only growing in areas where growth provides value to you and your customers.
Growth isn’t inherently evil, but it comes at a price.
And running a small business is more about creating freedom than just growing profits. Sometimes the price makes sense to pay, and sometimes you’re better off sticking with what you’ve got.
The benefits I’ve seen:
1. Freedom from excess financial worry (if you have less expenses/overhead, you can make less and be more profitable).
2. Freedom from the stress of “busy” (you’re only doing what is useful and aligns with your purpose).
3. Freedom from the fear of loss (you’re living below your means and not increasing your spending as your income increases, so you can weather greater storms and hardships).
4. Freedom from weighty responsibility (the bigger your business gets, the more work it requires, and it may not be work you enjoy).
4. How can a 1-person shop stay small, but leave room to grow?
I would per-suppose the idea of leaving room to grow with asking why first. Why is growth required? What will be better if growth happens? What is the risk if the growth doesn’t happen and what cost will it take to reach that growth?
Not all growth is bad, but is should be given some critical thought first.
We definitely need to grow to reach “enough” for ourselves and continue to offset inflation. But past that, how much more do we need? What is enough? How will we know when we reach it? What will change if we do?
Thank you Paul, for sharing your insights! You can learn more about being a “company of one” at https://ofone.co/.
You can buy Paul’s book Company of One here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1328972356/
Lidia Varesco Racoma of Lidia Varesco Design is a nonprofit brand strategist, marketing designer and speaker. She also outfits kids of all ages in good design with her apparel line typebaby.
