From what I can tell, there’s never been a better time to start a company and achieve results that blow these statistics out of the water.

According to the IRS, there are more than 27 million registered sole proprietorship businesses (defined as a business owned by a single person who files a Schedule C or C-EZ with their tax return) in the U.S.

These essential businesses filed a $350 billion profit in 2018.

Sounds impressive, right?

That is until you realize that, as a whole, sole proprietorships aren’t very successful with an average return of $13,000 profit per person.

Hardly the American dream, is it?

Perhaps expecting or anticipating this, the U.S. Business Bureau regularly classifies a sole proprietorship making less than $1 million in profit a year as ‘nonemployer businesses.’

Apparently, the Bureau considers it impossible for a company to make more than $1 million without hiring employees.

The same census shows that 96% of all nonemployer companies make less than $50,000 in receipts, and less than 0.1% make more than $500,000.

Pretty sobering statistics…

But also ripe for change.

From what I can tell, there’s never been a better time to start a company and achieve results that blow these statistics out of the water.

I’ve built and sold 3 ‘nonemployer businesses’ for a combined value of $300 million

My first company had an annual turnover of $15 million and a profit of $12 million. 

No, that’s hardly Google, I agree…

But I worked from home for only a couple of hours a day and never had the hassle of managing employees (which can sometimes be an all-consuming hassle). 

I’ve had so much fun. I’ve also been shocked how rarely it’s considered. 

And before you think that’s fine for a ‘mom & pop’ online retailer or its equivalent, I’m talking here about serious biopharmaceutical companies in the most highly regulated industry. 

When I started out, everyone from investors to vendors said I was crazy to think it possible to build a business without employees. 

So after selling my first company, one I started with just $200 and sold for $105.5 million, the same people said, “Wow, you got lucky!”

But here I am negotiating my 4th exit…

And they’re still saying I’m either lucky or it’s impossible.

I am neither. 

I am a business idea whose time has come

So, according to the US Business Bureau, I don’t fit any category. According to the IRS, I’m an ‘outlier.’ 

I’m still not a possibility in the minds of those who call themselves experts on how to start a company.

Why? What I’ve done I know anyone can do. 

In fact, I suggest everyone starting out do it my way. 

And, for anyone who’s already started but struggles to make profits above $13,000 a year, they too might want to reconsider their view of how businesses are built and run.

We live in extraordinary times 

We exist in a time when we can get big fast.

Technology allows us to do more with less. Communication tools help us build business relationships globally with little more than a click of a mouse. 

Yet sole proprietorships are, for the most part, blind to the opportunities. 

Small businesses, with their hierarchical structures filled with bloated middle management ranks, can’t figure out why they’re going out of existence at an unprecedented rate.

So what do you do?

The answers are quite simple… and why I say anyone can do it.

If you’re just starting out, rethink what makes a winning idea 

Big success does not come with another plumbing company or another landscape gardener contract.

It comes with an idea that disrupts the status quo, one that fixes a major issue. 

Yes, they can be plumbing solutions and landscape solutions, but they have to fix a common problem that frustrates everyone — like why plumbers take so long to show up… or why landscapers can’t seem to coordinate their activities so they’re not in the neighborhood with their irritating leaf blowers every single hour of every day.

Then, regardless of where you are in the startup process, think about the best use of capital. 

If you bought a new house, you wouldn’t hire a full-time handyman to live in a spare bedroom just in case something needs fixing. 

Yet that’s what almost every new business owner does. 

They register it, get started, and almost immediately begin hiring leaders of sales, leaders of engineering, leaders of human resources. 

But in the early and bumpy years of a start-up, there’s little need for full-time work. It takes time to build momentum and to increase the volume of work. 

Meanwhile, full-time employees sit at a computer terminal searching the internet and costing the business owner a fortune in hard-to-come-by capital. 

You can avoid this by structuring functions differently.

Finally, the business owner typically starts to experience employee issues and, instead of focusing on business growth, spends her time holding meetings to discuss employee morale.

Yes, it’s madness… and also the norm.

There’s a smarter way to start and run companies 

Imagine a company that runs itself. 

You, as owner, only need to spend a couple of hours a day conducting or orchestrating. 

• No employee meetings. 
• No weekly update or how-did-we do meetings. 
• No human resource systems. >75% NET profits. 

Stress-free. Fun.

It’s not a pipedream. If it were, I would have done it once and considered myself lucky… but I’ve done it the same way 4 times. That’s 4 out of 4.

The IRS and U.S. Business Bureau? They still consider it impossible. That’s because there aren’t enough of us. 

Come join me…

Come create magic in business.

A version of this blog is also posted on medium.com

Cheers,Trevor