Turn what you know into a book people finish.

The One Person Company

by Sushil Choudhary · 13,460 words · 8 chapters

1. 1. The Arithmetic of One
2. 2. Ten Customers Before Anything Else
3. 3. Do It by Hand, Then Write It Down
4. 4. Climbing the Ladder
5. 5. The Machine Room
6. 6. Specialists on Call
7. 7. Money That Arrives on Schedule
8. 8. Small on Purpose

From chapter 1: The Arithmetic of One

What a Department Used to Cost In the spring of 2005 I sat at the back of a fourteen-person export office in Pune, and one of my jobs was to collect the monthly bills from the department heads. Accounts sent theirs on a printed sheet. The designer sent hers by courier from Mumbai, with a drawing of a sad face if we paid late. I learnt more about business from those bills than from anything my manager said, because they showed what it cost simply to exist. Here is what a comparable small British firm paid that year for four basic capabilities, using figures I have since checked against old invoices and trade surveys. A part-time bookkeeper cost about £14,000 a year. A design agency on retainer charged £1,500 a month, so £18,000. Someone to answer the phone and the customer emails, £16,000. Marketing meant an annual Yellow Pages listing and a print run of brochures, perhaps £5,500. Software licences and a small server in a cupboard added £4,000. Add…