As a sole practitioner in private practice, I hear a lot about growth. The messages that bombard me from almost everywhere are ones that focus on growing the business—hiring employees, expanding the number of people I serve, moving to larger space, or maybe even franchising. Despite the fact that I don’t want to do any of those things, that sort of growth seems to be associated with success in business.
None of those things match how I want to be as a service provider/business owner. I want to stay small because I feel that I can serve my clients better that way. I want them to feel nurtured. I want them to feel like they have my full attention. I want them to know that if they call, they are going to get ME on the line and not a gatekeeper. These things matter to me, and I hope they benefit the people I serve.
A few years ago, I took my son to an acupuncturist for allergy-related work. Part-way through the session, the acupuncturist turned out the light and left my son to relax while he went next door to work with another patient. My son and I could hear the other patient chatting and laughing, and it felt like we had been abandoned for the next guy. Subsequent sessions were like that, too. Despite the fact that the practitioner was serving two people at once, my son got what we wanted out of those acupuncture sessions, but I always wondered whether the patient in the next room felt as squeezed-in to the acupunturist’s hectic schedule as we did. It was a good lesson in how I did not want my clients to feel.
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a business book that seems to get me and finally offers a vision of running a successful practice that doesn’t entail multi-tasking with too many people at once, hiring technicians, or enlisting graduate students just to boost profits. The book, Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business, by Paul Jarvis, is for anyone who wants to remain independent, nimble, and effective. Jarvis’ principles can be applied whether you’re a one-woman operation, like me, or want to think of yourself as an independent operator within a large corporation. His lessons about decision-making and priority-setting are worthwhile ones to consider, which is why I am writing today about the business side of things instead of a brain-related topic.
I found Company of One at Bard’s Alley, an independent book seller here in Vienna which I hope you’ll support, but I know you can find it online, too.
