IAM2311 – Writer, Author and Podcast Host Creates Products to Help Other Creators and CEOs

Title: Transcript - Fri, 29 Nov 2024 17:17:50 GMT

Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2024 17:17:50 GMT, Duration: [00:13:45.24]

[00:00:00.52] - Paul Jarvis

If you want to build a product that's trustworthy, it has to happen before you actually start building it. So I'm always focused on making something that's of the highest quality, and in order to do that, the second part of that is that I'm always in conversation with my customers and with my audience. So the biggest thing for me is that I share an article that I write every single week with my newsletter. I've done this for six years. I've never missed a Sunday other than when I'm taking a break from the list, which I mentioned to people. And so I'm always in communication with them. I'm always seeing what they're working on, what they're struggling with, what they like, what they don't like.

[00:00:31.26] - Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO podcast.

[00:00:56.56] - Gresham Harkless

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today, Paul Jarvis of the Company of One pa. It's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:01:05.14] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, thanks, Gretch, for having me. Appreciate it.

[00:01:06.84] - Gresham Harkless

No problem. No problem. Super happy to have you on. And what I wanted to do was just read your bio so everyone can learn a little bit more about Paul and all the awesome things that he's doing. And Paul Jarvis is a writer and designer who has had his Company of One for the last two decades. He's the author of Company of One, why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Businesses. He's worked with professional athletes like Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal, corporate giants like Microsoft and Mercedes Benz, and entrepreneurs with online empires like Danielle laporte and Marie Forleo. Currently, he teaches popular online courses, hosts several podcasts, and develops small but mighty software solutions. Paul's ideas and growth have been featured in Wired, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, and Entrepreneur Magazine. Paul, are you ready to speak to the IMCEO community?

[00:01:49.29] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, let's do this.

[00:01:50.31] - Gresham Harkless

Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business and write your book.

[00:01:57.07] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, so it was an accident, to be honest. I was working at an agency doing design, and I Wanted to find another job. I like the work and I like the clients. I didn't like the company, so I was like, I'm just going to go find another job. So I quit. And I was going to go to the Lib. This is the 90s, remember? So I was going to go to the library to look up how to write a resume so I could get another job. But before I could do that, I started to get calls from the clients of that agency saying, like, hey, Paul, we liked working with you more than the agency. Let us know where you're going to go next for your job and we'll take our business there. And I got a bunch of these calls, and I was like, maybe I should just work for myself and then I can work with these people directly, and then I can just run the business in the way that I actually want to run the business. And that's kind of how it started. And it's been 20 years, so I didn't end up ever learning how to write a resume.

[00:02:45.25] - Gresham Harkless

There you go. There you go. It sounds like that was a good thing, though, in the grand scheme of things.

[00:02:49.43] - Paul Jarvis

Definitely.

[00:02:50.31] - Gresham Harkless

Well, no, that's awesome to hear. Kind of how sometimes we have a plan for our lives and how we want to do things, and the universe sometimes pushes us towards where we should be going, even though we don't necessarily want to go there. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I know you touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to hear a little bit more about what you're doing that kind of helps support the clients. Tell us a little bit more about what you done with your book. Tell us how you kind of help.

[00:03:09.36] - Paul Jarvis

Sort. Yeah, so I did client work, web design work with clients for probably about 12 years. And I transitioned away from that into products. So now I do. So I write books like Company of One. Why Staying Small is an expert thing in business. That's available January 15th. Audio, digital, physical. It actually exists as a book as well. But then I also do things like make software products. So I have a product called Fathom that does analytics without taking and using personal data from website visitors. I teach a bunch of courses for freelancers and email marketers. Creative glass, chimp essentials. Really. I just do a lot of writing and making things on the Internet. That's kind of. That's kind of. My daily life is writing a bunch and then making things for other creators and other CEOs, other business people on the Internet.

[00:03:55.87] - Gresham Harkless

Interesting. That sounds like a creator's dream, to be able to kind of like create Content yourself and then have a mix of actually creating things to help out creatives as well.

[00:04:03.31] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, exactly. I really like it and I'm glad. Yeah, I'm glad that my day is filled with that, to be honest. Yeah.

[00:04:08.78] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, it sounds like a good day. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is kind of like your differentiator. What you feel kind of sets you and or your organization apart.

[00:04:18.18] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah. So I think the biggest thing is that I focus on retention over acquisition. So I focus on making the customers that I have very happy, happy with the things they buy. I want them to feel just as excited after they purchase something from me as they do with that moment where the endorphins are released, where they're like, I'm going to buy this thing and they're excited. I want them to feel excited after they buy the things that I sell as well. And so I focus on retaining customers. And actually more than half of the customers that I have that have bought one thing from me have bought multiple things from me or all of the products that I have. And by doing that, it's easier because I don't have to go out and constantly try to pitch new people. I just have to make sure that my existing customer base is happy, make sure that I'm always building products for them. And then if I do have a new product, I don't really have to sell them on it because they already trust me. They trust my brand, they trust my company, they know they're getting something quality. So if it makes sense for them, then they're just going to buy it. And I don't have to work on like a long sales cycle or a long sales pitch. And then as well, by focusing on that, by focusing on retention, they actually become my sales force. So I don't need a sales team because my customers are always out there in the market and talking to their own audiences about, hey, this is a product that I really like, this is a business that I really like. This is a writer that I really like. Why don't you check them out? And it's a non paid sales force. So as long as I keep my customers happy, then that basically becomes the engine for driving revenue for my business.

[00:05:41.37] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes sense. And it kind of sounds like you develop what I, I like to always call like a drive, which is people that are so passionate about what it is that you're doing that not only will they buy, they'll continue to buy. They're happy. They don't have, you know, that frustration, buyer's remorse after you buy something that they want to buy, and then they also want to advocate for you as well too.

[00:05:58.14] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, exactly. And that's really worked well for my business.

[00:06:00.83] - Gresham Harkless

How have you been able to kind of build that? Has that been something that kind of just happened, or did you kind of say, okay, this is something that. Where I want to build for myself, and then it happens that other people wanted it as well too?

[00:06:10.55] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, I mean, there's a bunch of factors there, I think. The first is that the trust, like if you want to build a product that's. That's trustworthy, it has to happen before you actually start building it. So I'm always focused on making something that's of the highest quality. And in order to do that, the second part of that is that I'm always in conversation with my customers and with my audience. So the biggest thing for me is that I share an article that I write every single week with my newsletter. I've done this for six years. I've never missed a Sunday other than when I'm taking a break from the list, which I mentioned to people. And so I'm always in communication with them. I'm always seeing what they're working on, what they're struggling with, what they like, what they don't like. Even with sales cycles for the products that I have, I'm always asking people, like, why did you buy this thing? Because there's millions of other business books or there's thousands of other courses that they could buy. So I'm interested in why they specifically buy from me and then how I can better serve those people who are interested in buying from me as opposed to somebody else. And it's just. Yeah, it's a constant communication. I've been talking to my audience once a week for the last six years through my newsletter. And before that, when I was doing client service work, I was talking to my customers all the time. Even if we had finished projects, I was always keeping in touch with the clients that I had because those clients would lead to either more. More work from that same client or they would refer me to somebody else. So after I finished a client project, I didn't just stop talking to the client. I was just always keeping the lines of communication open.

[00:07:29.37] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, and that's a great thing because like you said, through that communication you found and been able to kind of do that customer psychology, I guess you can call it, where you're able to understand exactly why they bought what they bought, what they were thinking through just because you cut those lines of communication open. So that's definitely a great reminder. Now, I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or even more information about your book, but it's something that you feel like makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

[00:07:54.63] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, I think so. The biggest lesson from the book is that growth is optional so you can grow a business. And there's nothing wrong with growing a business, but you don't have to. The byproduct of business success isn't always growth. It's the ability to choose what you want to do. And so my biggest thing for my business is that I like to be able to focus, like I said, on the customers that I have. That doesn't work if I had millions of customers. That works if I have thousands of customers. And so I built a business around. Around being able to make a great living from them, but still having a customer base that isn't so big that I can't communicate with them on a regular basis. Like, I recognize people's names when I see a sale come in for one of my products. More than likely, unless it's their first purchase, I recognize their name. Like, I've talked to them on email, I've talked to them on Twitter, that sort of thing. So by focusing on how I can serve my audience the best, and for me, it's having a smaller audience that really makes a lot of sense to me. And that's really. It's really allowed me to build a business that I really enjoy running for a long time. It's 20 years for me, so I. And I'd like to keep doing it for another 20.

[00:08:56.12] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes sense. And I love. You know, I actually got a copy of your book, and when it came in, I was like, this is a really awesome concept, because I think so much so in the business world, and I've even spoken to this, where the number of employees, the bigger your business is, that is a sign of success. But I've never believed that. And I loved when I got a copy of your book and looking to have that in our bookshelf, but really looking at and changing the perspective on what success is in business and having it kind of be up to what you want to do.

[00:09:21.25] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, definitely.

[00:09:22.00] - Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This is a word of wisdom or piece of advice or if you can hop into A time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

[00:09:31.37] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, I mean, it would be what we were talking about, that the byproduct of business success doesn't have to be growth. It's freedom. And it's the freedom to choose what you want to do. I honestly think that every business is a lifestyle business. Whether you work for a company and you have to have your butt in a chair from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, or you work at a high growth startup where you have no time off and no free time, or if you work for yourself, if you're the CEO of your own business, then you should be able to run your business in a way that helps you have the lifestyle that you you want. And for me, I like not having to be on call 24 7. That wouldn't be very fun for me. I like that I can take time off and my business isn't hurt by that. I like that if it's sunny on a Wednesday afternoon and my wife and I want to go for a bike ride because we live in the Pacific Northwest and it's never sunny. So if it's a sunny day, then I want to take advantage of that. So I think that if we work for ourselves, we should consider the freedoms that we want to have. And sometimes growth makes sense, but sometimes it doesn't.

[00:10:25.97] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And at your disposal, you have the option to choose one or the other, which is really powerful and something that a lot of people forget. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And as we kind of touched on a little bit, we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show, whether it be entrepreneurs of big huge companies or solopreneurs. But I wanted to ask you, Chris, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:10:46.19] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, I think being a CEO means that I get to define what success is because I think the definition of success is personal. I mean, we're shown in the media that success really looks like one way. And if you're a quote unquote business person, then this is what success looks to you. But I think if we chase somebody el else's version of success, at best we end up with their life and we have to hope that we're happy with that. Or at worst, we failed at something that we probably didn't want in the first place. So for me, being a CEO means that I get to determine what success is to me, because success really is personal.

[00:11:16.49] - Gresham Harkless

There you go. And that's an awesome reminder and love that definition. And Chris, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best, of course, they can get ahold of you, get a copy of your book and hear about all the awesome projects you're working on.

[00:11:32.88] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, I mean, the. The best way to get in touch with me is my newsletter, the Sunday dispatchesjrvs.com or if you Google Paul Jarvis, my domain name is hard to remember. That's where I spend all my time. I'm not on LinkedIn, I'm not on Facebook, not really on anywhere else. But my newsletter is where I focus. So that's probably the best way to get in touch with me. I think the other piece of advice that I would ask your listeners to consider is that goals can sometimes be fake or they can be not really based on anything useful. They're just based on what we think we want. And so if they're just artificial targets that we set for the sake of setting our artificial targets, then we can get stressed out when we're trying to reach for those. It's like when I was much younger, I thought that to be a success in business, I had to make a million dollars a year. And so I started to chase that and I was working 16 hours a day and I was really pushing myself too hard. And then I realized, like, why am I trying to make a million dollars a year? Like, what if 500 or less than that would actually work for myself? What if that was enough? And so when we start to consider the reason why we're setting goals and we're setting targets, then I think we can actually set better goals and targets. And we can also be less stressed out trying to achieve and then exceed these expectations over and over again.

[00:12:41.63] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes sense. And that's definitely a great reminder just because, you know, we can always listen to external forces to determine our goals, but really all the work needs to be done internally to figure out exactly what is freedom for us. And Paul, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out, truly appreciate you for writing the book. And we'll have all the links in the show notes just so that everybody can subscribe to your newsletter. And I appreciate you again and I hope you have a phenomenal rest.

[00:13:03.57] - Paul Jarvis

Yeah, thanks, man. I appreciate it.

[00:13:04.94] - Intro

Thank you for listening to The I Am CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at Imceo Co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five star rating. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.