When Starbucks began in 1971 in Seattle, Washington, their aim was to be the neighborhood boutique coffee place. Putting good processes and structure into place allows fewer people to do more work, and actually build the foundation for more autonomy. I had hoped this book would provide concrete tips and systems I could put into place today, but I didn't find any takeaways that piqued my interest.

Paul Jarvis shares his personal story and the experiences of others who have successfully created businesses to support their preferred lifestyle. Instead, start a side gig while you’re working—something you’re passionate about, something you’re good at, something that will keep your mind off your exhaustive 9-to-5 job.Instead, he now works for himself out of his home on a small, lush island off of Vancouver, and lives a much more rewarding and productive life. A way of making enough money to support your business and staying true to your principles and goals.

When you’re running your own company, however, it’s hard to draw the line and say that you won’t work anymore.More means more staff, more departments, more expenses, more meaningless meetings, more distractions, and eventually more dissatisfaction that can lead you to bankrupt, not more business. Fishburne only quite as a marketing executive when he was able to build a client list and save enough money to cover his expenses for the two-month low case. That’s why there’s a whole industry built around books like The E-Myth to help alleviate founder burnout. A company of one is a mindset that develops the business around the lifestyle, to gain mental clarity and freedom of action.

Many people are worried about sharing their ideas with others, but ideas alone are worthless, it's the execution that matters. Companies of one should be normalized because you will always be better than anyone at looking out for your own best interest, even in a large corporation. What if the real key to a more fulfilling career was not to scale up but to work for yourself and become a successful and sustainable company of one?This brings more trust and more loyalty, and eventually, it means more chance for turning your brand into a kind of community marker. Resilience: As Nassim Nicholas Taleb taught us, resilient companies—and since they are companies of one, read: resilient people— are down-to-earth (they accept the reality of things and are not preys to wishful thinking), are able to adapt, and all this because they have a sense of purpose. bq] "Money can be lost and won back without judgement, whereas trust is hard to regain once it's lost. Even more: it is one of the manuals you desperately need at the moment if you want to reclaim your life.

Richard Branson summed up purpose nicely: “Success in business is no longer just about making money or moving up the corporate ladder. Instead, he now works for himself out of his home, and lives a much more rewarding and productive life.

Brand personality needs to foster a two-sided relationship—one focused on not just how your businesses can benefit or gain something from others, but on how others can benefit from having a relationship with your business. We can have a small portfolio, work from home, wear sneakers and jeans and be successful, and more importantly, happy. I guess read this if you have doubts about the advantages of staying small, but personally, I would have liked to read more about how to manage subcontractors, strategies for determining what work to invest your time in vs. A key tenet of that purpose is that you must decide you want to remain small, even in the face of an opportunity to grow.