What I Need versus What I Want

I've always believed that in life there is the "nice to have" and the "have to have." Even when I was dating I believed that there were those traits I had to have in a person (honesty, loyalty, strong moral values, sense of humor, etc) and those things that would be nice to have but weren't necessarily dealbreakers if the have-to-haves were in place (things like being athletic, good physique, snappy dresser, doesn't play video games all day - all of which I was lucky enough to also find in my husband).

And how does this relate to entreprenuership and the business? I read a really great article in the Wall Street Journal the other day (dated from their December 26 issue) that reminded me that the same have versus want holds true in business. While the article focused on how the credit crunch is affecting small businesses, at one point they focused on a company called The Perfect Pair. You may have seen them before in your local specialty foods and gift stores. In a nutshell, the company started when the founder realized she could monatize the pear jelly she made every year as holiday gifts for friends and families. In 2003 she quit her job and jumped into the business full-time. And by 2007 she had approx $700,000 in sales. Yeah, that's growth!

However, the article also mentioned that she had two part-time employees. Not in the sense that she has 50 fulltime and 2 part-time employees - but the article made it sound as though those two parttimers were the sum total of her employees. What's more, the article made reference to the fact that The Perfect Pair does not outsource the production of their product so it's not like there are a team of people somewhere else who make the product and the two part-timers are there to help out with shipping and other administrative duties. I may have this all wrong but it honestly sounded like it was the founder and the two part-timers working together in the company's own commercial kitchen space. Now there's nothing to say that at the company's peak in 2007 there may have been more employees but it certainly didn't sound like they've downsized an entire workforce.

So $700,000 and two part-time employees? Yes, she has her own workspace which is something I covet (though won't be looking at seriously in this economy) but she also has a much higher revenue figure then I do. And it's made me wonder, can you work towards growing revenue without dramatically increasing costs? Obviously as revenue grows you'll have to increase raw materials which will drive that cost up some -but can you grow revenue with minimal staff? And minimal fixed costs?

Definitely something interesting to think about.