Because of modern technology, and especially business on the web, it no longer takes as many employees or as large a company  to be successful as might have been true just a few years back.

Independent agents - freelancers, writers, contractors (myself included) can often being solo-preneurs and hire out their services when and where needed. Other companies have fewer employees but an agile business model.  Naturally with the current economic climate we are seeing lots of downsizing.  Seth Godin chimes in with a timely entry about business size, scale and units of measure (here).

Much of my work involves life story capture - writing, editing, consulting.  Sometimes I'm referred to as a personal historian. I partner with the Priceless Legacy Company because their economy of scale works well for producing high tech/high quality products.