Nonsense of it all
Let me get this straight. A one man operation is required to conduct audits against its' quality system, but wait, he cannot conduct the audit because he will be auditing himself.
Answer: Hire (contract) someone outside the organization to conduct the audit. May sure they are on your approved vendor list. Oh and by the way, has you investigated their quality system to see if they are in compliance?
Fellows, the state of quality is sadly getting to the point where the standards are driving the business and leading to companies having to spend money NEEDLESSLY to meet requirements. COMMON SENSE needs to be applied here.
I say, conduct the audit yourself, if the outside auditor writes a non-conformance, no fault it by stating you are a one man operation. If that does not satisfy them, then THEY have no common sense and have no real understanding of the REAL business world. There has to be flexibility in the quality standard world.
Just my .02 cents.