The Million-Dollar One-Person Business

This book about Lifestyle Startups is intended to encourage so-called “solopreneurs” to feel content with a decision to remain small. The way the author suggests that self-employed persons avoid what she perceives as the headache of having employees is by outsourcing and use of freelance contractors. To that end, she encourages the owner to focus on sales, marketing and growth while using contractors or outsourcing companies for fulfillment, production, customer service, administration, and other functions. Alternative sourcing is common among larger companies and introducing its use to self-employed persons is a principle I agree with to a degree. After all, I operate a compliance outsourcing company. However, the author’s effort to eliminate 100% of employees from small businesses ignores the benefits of having employees. For example, if a solopreneur hired a single employee, his business would qualify for group health insurance coverage in an age when Obamacare is under a full assault from government, no longer offered by premier insurance carriers, and is not accepted by most physicians. Other benefits of having employees include having the ability to control costs and quality (especially when selling professional services like compliance, consulting, law), and having the ability to remove yourself from the day-to-day operation of the business. Notwithstanding this shortcoming, I consider The Million-Dollar One-Person Business a decent read because it provides real-life examples of others who have grown their revenue far above the salary they were able to command in the workforce.