Growth in the traditional sense is not always the right strategy, especially if it's done thoughtlessly. You'll have too many employees, too many expenses, and too much work. You will become hostage to your work and stop living for yourself.
A company of one is a business or a person who *doubts* the feasibility of growth. A company of one is not necessarily run by one person. It can be any business or even a division of a large company.
The worldview of a company of one is to build a business around your life, not the other way around.
Focus
As a company of one you will not have as many resources as you want. The advantage of a company of one is that you are flexible and can respond quickly to circumstances. However, this advantage requires constant vigilance, because with success comes new opportunities (especially the opportunity to grow and expand). To remain a company of one and stick to the definition of success you have given yourself, you must uncompromisingly reject what does not suit you, because all those plans, tasks, factors, meetings and emails that only seem productive at first glance will quickly become counterproductive if you do not control them religiously. By rejecting everything that does not fit your work principles, you create space for opportunities that do fit you - that align with your values and your company vision.Envy
Envy forces us to forget about work, business, and clients. To feed it, we hope at least for a second place, because instead of going our own way, we try to copy the way of another.Moreover, envy is based on a false comparison. It is like comparing raw ingredients to a delicious cake. With others, we see only the end result, the so-called "delicious dessert." With ourselves, we see only tasteless raw ingredients that we have to work hard to make good - prepare, mix and put in the oven. Too often we compare our multi-faceted, sometimes complicated personalities only to the best and brightest side of someone else's life, and the comparison is not in our favor. Remember that every business has its own successes and that there are also defeats.
It is better to use envy as a tool to show us what is really valuable to us. For example, if I am envious that you make more money than I do, then I need to realize that maybe money is more important to me than anything else, and think about whether it really is, and if so, how I can make more. When we find out what we are envious of, we can revise our ambitions or think about how we can achieve our goals.
Passion and Business
Barbara Corcoran (an investor and one of the "sharks" on the popular TV show "Shark Tank") said she discovered her hobby rather by accident when she was working until she passed out. The hobby came after the work - as a result of the work - not the other way around. Corcoran, who has earned a reputation on the show as a tough pragmatist, says the most important thing is to focus on problem solving, not your hobbies. This allows her to more accurately evaluate new business ideas presented on the show.Two important factors that most successful entrepreneurs don't talk about when they tell how smart they were to switch to their hobbies.
- They were professionals before they jumped in at the deep end. They had great careers, and if the new venture didn't produce the results they wanted, it didn't matter. Not to mention, the new venture contained elements they were already using and for which there was already demand.
- They could test the new venture on a more modest scale before they tried to reach the highest level. So they didn't drop everything and plunge into the unknown; they took a small plunge to see if they could hang on (if there was enough demand for what they had to offer) and not drown when they hit the water.