Companies of one instead focus on stability, simplicity, independence, and long-term resilience and rely on starting small and becoming as profitable as possible, without the need for outside investment. Companies of one, with their focus on what can be done in the here and now, not what can be done with investment, can also be started without an i

Too often businesses forget about their current audience — the people who are already listening, buying, and engaging. These should be the most important people to your business — far more so than anyone you wish you were reaching.

Starting out small is the best time to learn what your business truly is and why it serves who it serves. There’s no need to rush to be noticed faster than you can handle.

In short, start small. Start with just the smallest version of your idea and a way to make it happen. Instead of waiting (sometimes for years) for bigger wins to happen, you can use small wins to propel you. That’s actually a much smarter way to launch.

A company of one is simply a business that questions growth.

Instead of thinking, What product can I create? or What service can I offer, James believes that we should first think: What type of life do I want? and How do I want to spend my days? Then you can work backwards from there into a business model that allows you to create scalable systems to deliver your product to your audience.

Moreover, Peldi says, “I’m Italian. Italians measure things in generations, not quarters.”

To emphasize that last point, customers really don’t care if you’re profitable. But if what you sell them can help them become profitable, they’ll never want to leave your business. They’ll stay on as customers and then probably tell others to become your customers too. When you treat your relationship with your customer base as simply transactiona

When you feel like you have to start out competing with the largest player in the market, you end up chasing your competitor’s growth instead of bettering your own offering. Sometimes finding and working with a single customer, then adding another, and then another, is a very useful and solid way to begin.