For a 1-person business, I would add: Start from the beginning either automating things or farming them out if they're not your core business. Even if you hav

For a 1-person business, I would add: Start from the beginning either automating things or farming them out if they're not your core business. Even if you have the skills at something, if you're not really supposed to be doing them, farm them out. This is why Stripe (and Braintree) is so successful, because they have automated a real pain points for many people. (For that matter, AWS, etc.) It's not that it's hard to use another provider, or that you can't get payments or billing for cheaper, but when it flows together automatically you don't need to worry about it. People who are up to their necks in business administrivia and are treading water have too many annoying responsibilities that they both don't enjoy and cannot squash. If you go down the path of needing to maintain your stuff all the time, every time those pieces do not work together perfectly is a stressful time for you, focusing on things when you should be focusing on your life or your business.