Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic short read. Highly recommended
Review: What a great little book. I highly recommend this to ANY person owning their own small business. Some people may say that Gerber's "franchise" or "systematic" philosophy of business ownership doesn't apply to all, but I completely disagree. There is something for EVERYONE in this book. Buy it. More importantly, USE it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but too long
Review: I haven't try any of these techniques because I'm totally broke, so I can't tell you that it's REALLY good. But I do give it three stars because it provided some interesting insight I have never thought about like the difference between commodity and product or how colors and shapes influence sales. But there was a suggestion about touching your costumers to increase sales. Do I smell sexual-harassment lawsuits? This book bascially has three messages. 1) You must be balanced: 33% Entrepeneur, 33% Manager, 33% Technician (Most people are primarily Technicians and there lies the fault) 2) You must have an impeccable business model worthy of being franchised. This model focuses on the business as being the product, not what you are selling. The author provides a plan to create such a model. 3) Always lift the curtain! (The curtain being your comfort zone) I gave it only three stars because it was longer than it should be. There is this ridiculous example given throughout the book with some lady starting a pie business. And then a mini-autobiography of the author (glorifying himself to some extent) halfway in the book. To top it off, a really cheesy letter written to the pie lady took up one entire chapter! (Telling her to lift her curtain!) The letter is scary to say the least. Absurdly long-winded...such a letter written by a person who is sad and pathetic...a letter if sent over email would have the recepient pressing her delete button several times over. The author is confused with the genre of book he wants to write. This belongs in the entrepeneurship/self-help/fiction/spiritual genre if there's such a thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much waffle & dreadful story telling style
Review: Useful business management content but incredibly diluted through the story telling style and waffle. Its like reading a novel in places and gets pretty tedious. His points could have been put succinctly in 50 pages, instead it gets dragged out for far too long. Disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Eye-Opening Page Turner!
Review: Like a lot of people, I've often thought about starting my own business. But, it's a big step and the thought of failure--time, money, emotional investment--has always haunted me. So, I was really comforted by this book because it answers a lot of my concerns. I'm a lot more confident about my ideas now, but I found Guerilla PR: Wired answering my concerns about getting my name out on the Internet better than E-Myth.
Rating:
Summary: Gerber's E-Myth is a 'light bulb moment' book
Review: The loan officer who was handling the details for my new business loan mentioned two books that might help me ' one of them was Gerber's E-Myth. It did an excellent job of defining a systems approach to business to ensure that you run your business instead of your business running you ' a real 'light bulb moment' for me that made me rethink how I was going to set up my business. My only criticism of the book is that, once the reader begins to understand the need for systems in order to grow and be profitable, the rest of the book becomes a commercial for Gerber's consulting services. It was frustrating. That's where the other book he mentioned (How to Make Your Business Run Without You by Susan Carter) took over. The E-Myth does a great show-and-tell of what to do, and Carter's book gives succinct details of how to do it. Although a bit pricey, it was a lot less expensive than hiring a Gerber consultant! If you are just starting out in business, or are feeling overwhelmed in the one you already have, the E-Myth is a great book to show you how to own your business, instead of "owning" your job.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for Would Be Business Owners
Review: It is amazing how true to life Michael Gerber book is. This book greatly simplifies many principles of business. It is so real that I thought he collected his material from the small businesses in which I worked. The language is easy and conversational in style. This book should be required reading in any university Business Program. Not only is it a valuable reference for a struggling business owner, but it can provide guidance to anyone wishing to write a business plan. This is a nut to soup book form the importance of developing an Aim to the signing of the responsibility contract. It stresses the importance of consistency in customer service and satisfaction. Perhaps the greatest benefit this book can offer you, if you are a business owner are suggestions on how to get your life back. If my father would have read this book I believe his business would have been bigger, and he would have had more time to spend with his family.
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: Very important information, poorly presented
Review: If I could rate this book separately for content, I'd give it 5 stars. The ideas here are so important and really "right on", and I'm glad I found this book before really getting my business off the ground. It's given me some important insights into the process of creating a business. But oh my goodness does Mr. Gerber need a good editor. The grammar is at times appallingly bad, and the writing suffers from verbosity (the old "we anticipate a possible precipitation situation" for "It might rain" syndrome). Further, he has a VERY annoying habit of starting a new paragraph for every sentence. This can be effective once in a while for the purpose of making a point, but it occurs on nearly every page, e.g. from page 50: But the Technician in you won't stop long enough for that to happen. The Technician in you has got to go to work! The Technician in you has got to catch the balls! The Technician in you has got to keep busy! You get the picture. It's really too bad, because page after page it gets so annoying that I find myself distracted from the content. Further, the book begins to read after a time like a commercial for Mr. Gerber's company, E-Myth Worldwide, as it is mentioned by name at least once in every chapter. ...Please. Still, I recommend the book. You can do your own editing with a highliter pen, so that the important points can be found easily when you want to return to them.
Rating:
Summary: Stupendous
Review: I have given this book as a gift, used it as a major source for a college class that I teach, and am constantly referring back to it for assistance in my small business consulting practice. There are books that make monumental shifts in our lives and this is one of them for anyone associated with business. A must read, Gerber distills the elements of business into an easy read that makes business make sense. Please read this book if you want to go into business for yourself OR if you own a business that is struggling. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: If you do not read this book, I wonder how you might succeed
Review: For years, I tried to run a small and make it succesful, until I read this book and began aplying some ot the concepts that Mr. Gerber gives. You should read it and try it to, I tell you that this book will change the way you think about running a small business and most likely, will change your life.
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