While I love MailChimp and I think it’s an amazing software platform, there are so many places where there’s room for improvement, and I figured out how to hack that system.

I’ve spent the last couple of months actually talking to the opposite of what I’m writing the book about, talking to very fast-growing startups, especially fast-growing in terms of employees. Envy is dangerous in running a company of one because it causes the businessman to take his focus off of his path and growth, and onto other people’s businesses.

I think for working for yourself — and there are not really any classes or schools or things that people learn about autonomy, about finding your own motivation to do work, or dealing with the cognitive load of decisions, because there are so many decisions to be made. Paul talks about that in his book: the fact that growth is seen as a natural thing and you should embrace it, and you should aim for that. But I think where these products like Evernote Essential or Chimp Essentials — I’m pretty sure that’s even why I use “Essentials, because I’m like, “Oh, Brett used that. Your audience wants to relate to your personality: if you don’t assign yourself one, your audience will. It’s the easiest decision because if you have a problem in your business it’s easy to throw stuff at it, “throw more”, as he quotes, at it and that’s not always the best solution.

It was really interesting to have somebody else in charge of the nitty gritty and making sure things happened.People want a personal relationship with the companies they do business with, and companies of one are particularly well suited to that.

men and women across the world work less, achieve more, and live fulfilling, abundant lives without distractions, fear, or procrastination getting in the way.

It will not be embarrassing to talk about your product to people who genuinely care for you and your journey.