The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

Rating:
Summary: truly life changing, Michael nails what is important !
Review: I can best review this book by saying that I was a average small businessman locked deeply in the misery of doin it, doin it, doin it... 10 - 14 hours a day, and even when I got home I wasn't really there. After beginning to apply the E Myth technology I moved my office to my home, where I work ON my businesses not IN them. Ask my wife and family if Michael has something to offer the world.Buy it Read it Email me if you 'get it'

Rating:
Summary: Sage advice on the basics - - captivating
Review:

Though a trifle metaphysical at times, I found this book to be both
informative and entertaining. It first deals with common mindsets of
people who form new small businesses. It describes the problems
that can arise when the "Technician" runs amok, overbalancing other
skillsets that a small business owner needs to develop.

The book then goes on to describe key business processes in
terms very understable to the common reader. An ideal mindset and
sound practices are presented to help launch a successful business
or revitalize a flagging one. Relevant examples and a fine story-
telling technique combine to guide the reader seamlessly through
all topics.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for anyone running anything.
Review: This book aims to help entreprenuers keep their focus on growing and running their overall business rather than on the day-to-day details of business. The plan is to have the daily details 'scripted' so that they can be either be done by rote oneself or be delegated to others, freeing the entrepreneur's mind for the creative and/or business side of the business, the things that build the long-term success or failure of the business

Rating:
Summary: Better than most small business books
Review: This in not a technical or reference type of business book. Instead it covers the motivational and personal issues of starting your own business. Best for someone thinking about diving into their own business and who needs some guidance to decide exactly what they want to achieve

Rating:
Summary: I believe "systems dependent businesses" don't exist.
Review: I didn't read all the way through "The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It" by Michael Gerber. I stopped reading at about page 100. "E-myth" stands for "entrepreneurial myth." Gerber makes the accurate point that just because a person understands the technical work behind a business doesn't imply that the person understands that kind of business. People who understand the technical work don't necessarily understand how to operate the business. They are technicians, not entrepreneurs.

Gerber contends that most small business owners run into difficulty because they think and work like technicians. They try to do the work of the business, rather than learning how to run the business. Gerber writes, "If your business depends on you, you don't own a business-you have a job." "What if you don't want to be there?" The work grinds small business owners down, and they become disillusioned with their businesses.

This is probably true for many, new small business people. Many people aren't cut out to operate a business. Running a business is hard work. But, rather than acknowledge that reality, the goal, according to Gerber, is to create a business which doesn't need you, to create a "systems dependent business" and not a "people dependent business."

Gerber uses McDonald's as his prototypical model of operation. Gerber says McDonald's is an example of a turn-key business. You just put the key in the lock and the business works. A prototype franchise that can be easily replicated is Gerber's holy grail of business.

Gerber writes: "Given the failure rate of most small businesses, he [Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's] must have realized a crucial fact: for McDonald's to be a predictable success, the business would have to work, because the franchisee, if left to his own devices, most assuredly wouldn't!...Once he understood this, Ray Kroc's problem became his opportunity... Forced to create a business that worked in order to sell it, he also created a business that would work once it was sold, no matter who bought it... a foolproof, predictable business.... A systems-dependent business, not a people-dependent business."

I disagree with this analysis. Difficulty of management is a fundamental problem with any delocalized business, one with many locations spread throughout a large area. A dedicated manager is needed on each site. One manager can't oversee all the business locations. The franchise concept is one way to place devoted managers at each location. Each franchisee is not only carefully selected (in a good franchise) and carefully trained, but each franchisee has paid money to own the franchise. So, each manager becomes an owner. And, owners care more about the success of their business than anyone else. They are willing to work harder than anyone else to see the business succeed. Their own money is at stake.

Ask owners of successful franchises if they sit around *not* working. If an employee doesn't show up, who fills in? In fact, many franchise owners will tell you that buying a franchise is very much like buying a job! The fundamental premise that a McDonald's franchise can function with just anyone *not* working at the helm, while the operation just sort of self-manages, is incorrect.

It's true the best franchises don't tend to fail, but they aren't sold to just anybody either! I'm not criticizing the franchise concept. My goal is just to show that few businesses are purely "systems dependent."

Gerber suggests you try to create a template business operation that works of its own accord so that it can be replicated in a cookie cutter approach. Easier said than done!

Where do you get the basis for this template, or as Gerber calls it, "Franchise prototype" ? Gerber says the "franchise prototype" is part of your entrepreneurial vision. You dream about what your business will look like in the future. In practice, most successful franchises are based upon many years of operating history and industry experience. And, many knowledgeable business owners, who fully understand the franchise concept, have failed dismally when trying to franchise operations.

Of course, McDonald's and other established franchises have spent billions of dollars to create brand awareness for the franchise, which brings in a steady flow of customers. Your new "business format franchise" (way of doing business) won't have brand awareness. You will need to build it. Building brand awareness is marketing, and no marketing plan is ever assured to work. There won't be a cookie cutter marketing plan to toss in with the cookie-cutter operation.

"The E-Myth Revisited" is also a bit dated. Gerber writes, "A soggy French fry is not a McDonald's French fry." That has not been my recent experience. So much for flawless systems!

I did catch a glimpse of the last pages where Gerber offers a free "Turn-Key AnalysisTM" of your business. He writes, "Conducted over the phone in no more than an hour, our Turn-Key AnalysisTM will determine exactly what needs to be done in your business to give you everything you want from it: what essential building blocks are missing and need to be added; what processes and systems are absent or, if present, are inadequate to achieve the results you want to produce."

That's a pretty impressive offer! In under an hour, over the phone, he'll tell you exactly what's wrong with your business! I think I'll pass on that. But, do consider contacting SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), your local small business development center, or business graduate school. Each of these might be able to provide small business counseling. Be sure to specify that you want a complete turn-key operation with no work and no management. Showing up for business optional.

Yet, some business owners claim that this book has helped them. I think they might be confusing good old organization and routine for a "systems dependent business."

Peter Hupalo, author of "Thinking Like An Entrepreneur."

Rating:
Summary: Sift through the mush and find directly actionable tools
Review: After acquainting myself with the liberal employment of conversational formatting and forcing myself through sections that almost completely overwhelmed me with the "touchy feelies," I've completed this book with a sense it represents a terrific vehicle for delivering clarity and value for many small business owners.

I enjoyed the easy-to-grasp discussions around three hypothetical personality types required in a successful business: the "manager," the "entrepreneur," and the "technician." While simplistic, these are certainly easier to remember than Myers/Briggs and other like profiling systems.

I value the fact I was able to describe these profiles to those who had never read the book and it triggered an energetic discussion on corporate balance and team orchestration. Anyone who has tried in vain to verbally impress upon their co-workers the value and learned facts of a Myers/Briggs profiling will appreciate this. Am I an INTJ, ESFP, or an INTP? I can't remember.

Enlightening actionable is the author's recommendation one begins with an org chart of their company at some point in the visualized future and works to formalize and document each job's responsibilities. Additionally, discussions about the "franchise prototype" resonates to many who would be most benefited by this book. In short, showing parallels between small, disorganized companies and large successful franchises such as McDonalds is compelling.

One final comment: Gerber assumes that many in small business hate it and want to do something else with their lives, such as flying kites or something. He believes that unless you sell your company for a profit you've wasted your time.

I disagree. He ignores the fact some start businesses as a lifestyle, and enjoy it at its current state, not seeking to create the next McDonalds and become millionaires. I suspect his position reflects the fact he pays his bills by consulting small businesses, and his statements coercively impress upon the reader his position is the most correct one.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read for all wannabe entrepreneurs
Review: For over a decade now I've been recommending this book (and its earlier edition) to wannabe entrepreneurs that post to the four business newsgroups I co-moderate. Those being misc.entrepreneurs.moderated, misc.business.moderated, misc.business.marketing.moderated, and misc.business.consulting.

This book's most important contribution is talking about what it takes to start and run a successful business AND who should do so. I keep telling newsgroup posters to be real honest with themselves on whether they're a "Technician", "Manager", or "Entrepreneur" so they can save themselves a lot of grief. The rest of the book helps develop the right mindset for starting up and running a business. Have a goal. Aim for that goal. Systematize your business. Delegate. Have an exit plan.

The only thing that could have made this book better was if it had recommended wannabe entrepreneurs to go and talk to business people that are currently running a business they'd like to run. Naturally, not talking to one's future competition, but going out beyond your sales territory and where it overlaps your competition and talking to the business people there. Anyway...

This is a great book and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: An eye opener for sure...
Review: It's one of those books that gives you a wake up call, although some of the sections in the book does tend to wander off into the story of other peoples lives as examples, but overall the book does wake you up, I did gain alot of perspective from the book, funnly enough I did email the e-myth website to find out if they provided any e-learning services, but no reply till today for the past 2 weeks, makes you wonder??

A must buy book for anyone getting into the business especialy for some of us that have dealt with situations where you seem to be unable to cope with all the sudden increase of business and how to deal with them, do keep in mind that this book is very down to earth, and do keep in mind that you would require some sort of business background if you ever going to be starting a business, a recommendation as a subject of choice would be accountanting so maybe an accounting abc manual would be a good reference manual in the future in addition to this book. This book is not going to save you but will for sure open your mind.

Rating:
Summary: The Right Mind Set
Review: Definately one the best books I've read so far for helping a small business owner get his/her head around how to run his/her business.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: This is a well written book! It's like a novel, you just can't put it down, because you want to know what'll happen next. The author uses a style of making a specific point, and then provides a continuing real world story where he discussed these points with a real entrepreneur.

Now if only Mr Gerber would write a book on finding an idea to start your own business! LOL