Episode 343: Company of One
In this episode, Fiona shares a book called Company of One. She also discusses its importance in business growth, personal lifestyle, and financial goals. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
The recurring theme of continuous growth in the business world.
The importance of defining one's financial goals
Balancing business growth with personal preferences and lifestyle choices
Reflecting on the motivations behind business decisions
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Welcome to episode 343 of the My Daily Business podcast. Today is a quick tip episode and this is an important one, especially if you are feeling some pressure to change your business, to get bigger, to grow. If that's been something that you're going through now or something that you have gone through in the past and grappled with, then this is for you. Before we get stuck, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land that I recorded this podcast and that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded.
I also know that some people have contacted us about Marketing for Your Small Business. The course and coaching program has already kicked off for this year. We won't offer it again until partway through next year. If you want to buy the course though, you can buy the course at any time at marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com and work through it at your own pace and then upgrade for a very small fee to the course and coaching program when we offer it again. If you're like, I missed out and I want to get my marketing sorted for 2024, you can still do it. You just go to marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com, go through the course and then if you want a refresher or you want to get some feedback from me through live coaching for nine consecutive weeks, you can upgrade at a later time. Let's get into today's quick tip episode.
Today I wanted to mention a book called Company of One by Paul Jarvis. This came out in 2019 and I think since it's come out I have read it twice and I have just started listening to it again on Audible. There are not that many books that I go in and out of like a few times and in this one finished the book more than once. Particularly like nonfiction business books, I do sometimes go back and flick through and like look at the parts I've highlighted or look at parts. I've put Post-it notes, but I don't necessarily go back every year and listen to them. In this case, I just think this is such a great book. We've put it into a business book club for the group coaching program. I have mentioned it to so many people, I've referenced it and suggested it to so many of my one-on-one clients as well because I think in business there is such an emphasis on always growing and always making more money, growing your audience, doing this, doing that.
I think that is important, but it's about questioning, do I need to be doing that? Do I want to be doing that? I have many times referenced money mapping. We have a Money Mapping Course and I work with people all day long on looking at their finances and looking at how much you actually need to earn and what is your thrive number, your thrive number, not somebody else's, but your thrive number. What is the number that's going to make you feel like you're successful, that you're very comfortable in life, that you're able to have freedom and choice over what you do with your money and you're able to invest some of that money. The idea for me in business, and particularly in my own personal business, is that I don't necessarily want to get huge.
I don't want to have like five people working for me and managing all of those people and having the overheads of all of those people. I don't want to work in a big office in the city. I don't want to take out a lease on things. That's not because I'm risk-averse or anything else, it's because I've chosen to create a business that works for my lifestyle, not the other way around. I think when it comes to business, often we see these messages of 10 times your business or I'm only working with people that earn seven figures, or I'm doing this or I'm doing that. It can be tempting to go into that lane and then suddenly you're like, “What? What am I doing this for?” The idea of Company of One is not necessarily that you just have a company of one, but it's that you question why are you in business and what you want from your business.
You can create an incredible business and a brand that stands out and is in alignment with your values, but it also doesn't have to impact the rest of your life to such a degree that you're completely overwhelmed or you're so stressed about, what if we don't make enough money? And then I've gotta lay off 10 staff. For me, when I started this business and predominantly in the first, I would say two to three years, but also inevitably, every so often I meet somebody who tells me, “You're doing so well in business. You should totally hire like 10 business coaches.” You should train people, you should have a license for what you do. The number of people that have suggested that “Hey, you should set up like a sister office in the UK or the US or in Sydney and like expand and go huge.”
I don't want to do that. I just don't. I've managed lots of people in my career. I've managed teams of up to 20 and I like being a manager. I've always got a good review from people being a manager. But at this point in my life, at this season in my life where I've got young children and I've wanted to focus on some other stuff, not just work all the time, but also I have one person that works for me every day and then I have somebody else who works in a part-time capacity for us. And we hire people when we need them. I don't want to create a business where I have 16 people working for me. I know some people do. I don't personally want to do that. When it comes to the Company of One, it's thinking about what I want as the leader of this business.
Am I creating a business that speaks to those things? For example, in the book, very early on in the book, Paul talks about how he met a friend of his and they were out for a surf and the guy was saying, “I'm excited. I've made enough money now for the year I can take the rest of the year off and go trekking or go do something else that he wanted to do.” It was only August. From August to December he didn't have to work because he'd figured out what his number was to keep him very comfortable, to have enough money to invest, to pay all these bills, to do all the things. He was able to take the rest of the year off. I work in a similar fashion in terms of, I mean I don't take from August to December off, but I work a few days a week, three days a week.
I also tend to take all of January off and part of December off so that I can be there for the school holidays, but also so that I can enjoy the summer, enjoy the nicer weather, and I might do one or two days of work in January, but most of the time it's off. That's if I hit my numbers. Luckily I've been able to hit those numbers for a few years it's been great. But the point of this episode is to ask yourself what are you working for. Do you know your number? Your number is the number, I call your Thrive number. If you've gone through our money mapping course, you will have encountered this. If you've worked with me, you'll encounter it 'cause it's one of the first things that we talk about. And to assess what is your number.
Your number is the number that allows you to feel comfortable that you've got enough of a buffer that you're taking in profit, that you are paying yourself a good wage, that you are also paying yourself super and likewise the people that work for you. You've got enough of an understanding of your revenue streams where they come in and how to make that money so that it's not feast and famine every single time. But also the other question from the book is thinking about what you want out of life. I know that's a big question, but think about how is this business helping you create the life that you want versus the other way around. I think so often we can hear about people who get into business and I'm going to have freedom and everything else.
Even Nora Belal mentioned this when I talked to her, the founder of Death Practice Journal. That's such a good episode. If you haven't listened to it, go back and just Google Nora Belal or Death Practice Journal, and you'll find the podcast, we'll link to it in the show notes as well. But she talked about the idea that sometimes people get in business for the lure of freedom and all of this romanticized way of looking at life. They end up doing more work and being more tied to their business than they would have been if they just had a nine-to-five. I think it's an important thing to sit back and think about, why am I in business? What's the number I need to be making financially? If that's one of your goals, then how am I doing that?
What am I doing with the rest of my time? how do I create a business and a life that I love? I know I use that in the intro for this podcast, but it's something that I have cultivated in my own life so that I have time to go and see friends. I have time to just sit outside and look at the view for a while and not be like, I've got to get back to the computer. I have time to do things that are important to me. I have time to pick up the kids from school. I have time to hang out with them after school and I'm not on my phone all the time. It's thinking about what is the life I'm trying to create here. And maybe that life means that your business needs to bring in, I'm just pulling numbers out of the hat here.
Maybe that means that your business needs to bring in $150,000 and that's it. That's what you need to bring in. Not that's it. Like that's nothing. But as in that's it. You don't need to like, I need to bring in a million. Why? I get that if you want to bring in a million, that's great, as long as you have a reason for bringing that in. It's not just everyone's told me that I should be doing this, or everyone around me says this, or everyone in my industry says that they make seven figures. It's thinking about like what I want out of life and what's making me super comfortable. Yes maybe an extra million is going to make you comfortable, but it's thinking about like, am I chasing my own goals or somebody else's goals?
It's not necessarily about money. You could be making $10 million and also be happy and have a comfortable life. Obviously, maybe with 10 million you'd have a very comfortable life, but you could also make a hundred thousand of a comfortable life. I have worked with clients who are making millions and bringing home less as a wage for themselves and stressed to the nines versus people who are making a lot less but bringing home a lot more money and keeping money in profit and being able to invest and also have a great life that they enjoy. I know sometimes when I bring up money, people are very funny about things, but I guess the point of this particular episode is, to go out and read the Company of One. If you are somebody who's like, I want to stay intentionally small, I don't need to get big.
You just want to remind yourself of that, but also to questions like what does growth look like for me? What does it mean for me? Maybe it's got nothing to do with finances. Maybe growth is all about how I get more time back. How do I grow the time that I have for my leisure activities for my health for my family or for something else? But also thinking about like, why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? What do I want out of life and how does the business help me? The book is called Company of One by Paul Jarvis. Such a good book. Like I said, I've read it a few times, I always have it on my shelf behind my desk and I pull it out regularly. I just think it's such a good book, especially if you are somebody who doesn't want a huge studio with 20 people that work for you and there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you want.
But if you don't want that and you're feeling pressured to always get bigger consider reading Company of One, I swear you'll enjoy it and you'll probably take a lot out of it. I know that I have. We'll link to that in the show notes. I guess I just want to reiterate, that there is nothing wrong with wanting to earn millions. Totally fine. I have lots of clients who are and want to earn even more millions than they already are. But it's just coming back to like, why am I doing this and how do I want this to look? Because we all have agency in a way over our lives. Particularly if you are already in a small business and you had that choice and that privilege to be able to create a small business, then chances are you have quite a bit of agency over your life. It's like looking at that and embracing that and thinking about how I want my life to live and where my business fits into that. That is it for today's episode. If you found it useful, I would love it so much. If you could share this with a friend, maybe they need to hear this message right now or go and read Company of One right now. I'll see you next time. Bye.
