Episode 303: Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business (FS303)

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/303
How much growth is enough? Can you keep your company at an optimum size? What is the perfect size for you?
A bigger business is not always a better business. And, keeping things on the right level is almost always preferable to precarious growth. If you can stay profitable, why would you need to keep growing to some imaginary and mostly arbitrary standard?
In this episode, we are going deep on the idea of how to make sure your business gets to and stays at the best size for your needs. We are talking freedom, consistency and the phases of growth that you will experience.
Today on the show, we are joined by Paul Jarvis, author, designer, podcaster, online course teacher and software creator. Paul’s latest book, Company of One, is the jumping off point for today’s discussion and he does a great job of unpacking his philosophy for all of us.
We also talk about impacting one person through your business, remaining mindful of your successes and priorities, considering the lifestyle implications of your choices and filtering your decisions with your purpose.
So for all of this and more, join us on the Fizzle Show today!
Key Points From This Episode:
• Paul’s first, second and third books. [0:05:24.3]
• The electro shock experiment. [0:10:45.8]
• Increasing freedom and maintaining profitability. [0:15:04.5]
• The phases of growth and being mindful of enough. [0:20:35.7]
• Servicing yourself and customers by staying manageable. [0:25:30.1]
• Impacting one person through your work. [0:30:02.7]
• Paul’s experience publishing his Sunday Dispatches. [0:36:40.9]
• Paying attention to the audience that you have already accumulated. [0:40:20.4]
• A commitment to your audience through consistency. [0:43:45.7]
• The most useful question Paul has ever asked his audience. [0:47:40.5]
• How much is enough? Renegotiating your relationship with work. [0:51:01.3]
• Paul’s parting advice for getting it right for yourself. [0:54:15.7]
• And much more!
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
• Fizzle — https://fizzle.co/
• Gusto — http://gusto.com/fizzle
• Paul Jarvis — https://pjrvs.com/
• Eat Awesome — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13565587-eat-awesome-a-regular-person-s-guide-to-plant-based-whole-foods
• Be Awesome in Online Business — https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FEKO62S/
• Company of One — https://www.amazon.com/Company-One-Staying-Small-Business/dp/1328972356
• David Heinemeier Hansson — https://david.heinemeierhansson.com/
• Cal Newport — http://calnewport.com/
• MailChimp — https://mailchimp.com/
• Tom Ross — https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tomrossconnect
• Electric Shock Experiment —https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/people-prefer-electric-shocks-to-being-alone-with-their-thoughts/373936/
• Elon Musk — https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/#e5473a77999b
• Tim Ferriss — https://tim.blog/
• Willow — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096446/
• The 4-Hour Workweek — https://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/dp/0307465357
• Aiden Fishbein — https://vitals.agency/blog/author/aiden/
• Fizzle Try 5 — http://fizzle.co/try5
• Courage and Clarity — https://www.courageandclarity.com/
• Steph Crowder on Twitter — https://twitter.com/stephcrowder_
• Corbett Barr on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CorbettBarr
• Chase Reeves on Twitter — https://twitter.com/chase_reeves
• Fizzle Sparkline — https://fizzle.co/sparkline
• Fizzle Goals Course — https://fizzle.co/courses/goals
• Fizzle Journaling Course — https://fizzle.co/courses/journal
• Fizzle Essentials of Web Design Course — https://fizzle.co/library/essentials-of-website-design-for-business-builders
• Fizzle Website Tune Up Curse — https://fizzle.co/courses/tuneup
• Fizzle Roadmap — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/small-business-roadmap-1-clarity
• Start A Blog That Matters Course — https://fizzle.co/start-a-blog-that-matters
• Fizzle 80/20 Copywriting Guide — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/writing-copy-for-web
• Fizzle Toolkit — https://fizzle.co/toolkit
• Fizzle Craft + Commerce — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/craft-commerce
• Fizzle Project Management for Entrepreneurs — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/project-management-for-entrepreneurs
• Fizzle Hosting — https://fizzle.co/hosting