Successful go-it-alone businesses are not haphazard undertakings. If a go-it-alone business were a house, we would say that it was built on a well-constructed foundation, using a blueprint that involves several core engineering ideas. The ideas that form this foundation are discussed next.
THE IDEA OF PERSONAL LEVERAGE
Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the world.
—Archimedes
Achieving leverage and the amplification of your skills is the keystone to becoming a successful go-it-alone entrepreneur. A Roman arch cannot exist without its keystone. Similarly, an entrepreneur can turn his or her unique skills into a keystone that holds together a variety of outsourced services. Thus, a substantial go-it-alone business depends on the effective application of leverage and extreme outsourcing. The impact of one or a few people’s talents can now be magnified through the combination of these two factors to an extent that was inconceivable even a few short years ago.
One simple example of the kind of leverage that exists today is generally evident in any Internet-based retailing effort:
• In the past, some of the functions required of any potential store proprietor included renting physical space, designing and furnishing the store, staffing the store during all hours of operations, and attracting walk-in traffic to the store through local advertising and other means. All of these activities took time, a substantial upfront cash investment,
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GO IT ALONE! Copyright 2004 by Bruce Judson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
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