E-Myth Mastery : The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company

Rating:
Summary: Build Your World Class Company
Review: At the thought of going into business for yourself, are you haunted by, "But, what if ...?"

Or maybe each time you look at your boss, you can't resist saying to yourself, "What am I doing here?! I know more than he knows. And it's time for me to be my own boss."

Michael Gerber, founder of the E-Myth Academy and bestselling author of the "E-Myth" book series has a new book, "E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company."

And I must admit that based upon, "Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment," by George Leonard, my mind and heart were truly ready to take on the E-Myth journey.

Mastery is finding a way to both enjoy and make easy what is before you. It is also choosing to not arrive at a destination, but instead to really be on a journey, while you enjoy even the plateaus.

The E-Myth is the belief that being an expert in your profession is all you need to go into business for yourself. And, "The E-Myth Mastery," is about creating and developing what the author calls a World-Class Company, through becoming an entrepreneur, rather than a manager or a technician. The true entrepreneur has vision, zest for what is to come.

We have all seen situations where a doctor, after many years of education and the best of training, opens his private practice, determined to use his professional skills to "save the world." But, because he hasn't distinguished himself to be an entrepreneur, someone who creates, who has a vision, and whose business systems are tested on an ongoing basis, his cost of doing business grows higher than his ability to develop a mature client base.

In a style that invites the serious reader to discover answers to questions that rise up from within ones self, Michael Gerber provides the tools, ideas, insight, methods and systems to inspire any small business owner to make entrepreneurship into a way of life for both yourself and those around you.

This is important because to develop any business the entrepreneur must continually grow, as he surrounds himself with people who mirror and match his goals, vision and mission.

In addition to suggesting that entrepreneurs surround themselves with those who help them to realize their dreams, Gerber suggests that readers do much like Napoleon Hill, in "Think and Grow Rich" suggests by selecting who you would like to emulate. And ask yourself questions about what works, as you envision seeing those experts ready and willing to guide you to the answers.

For example, to Gerber, and millions of others, Sam Walton created in Wal-Mart a World-Class company worthy of emulating from the management systems to the greeter at the door.

Gerber guides readers further in their quest for answers, by recommending that they ask themselves, "What is it that Sam Walton knew that I need to know? What is it that I need to practice?"

When I asked myself these questions, and made the commitment to write in my notebook whatever came to mind, I was amazed, because I know that the ideas and possibilities that I wrote down would not have occurred to me, had I not been guided by to explore the answers within myself, and document those answers. And writing the answers down allowed me to see something that I will remember and take action on.

This is important because to be a successful business owner, no matter how good you are as a technician doing what you love doing, be that a doctor, attorney or other, for you to transform into the entrepreneur you were meant to be, you must consider and embrace the wisdom of leaders whose passion and purpose lives through millions of others.

This is also important because, as Gerber shares, "The truth is that knowing how to do the work of a business has nothing to do with building a business that works." Acceptance of this fact will free business owners to create and develop a business, rather than being a slave to a job.

It is in messages like this that Gerber dispels the myth, and gives hope to the would be entrepreneur who is inundated with the "What if's" in starting a business.

And while the traditionally logical reader may have some challenges with reading this book, because the author encourages journaling, and other New Age ideas, this book takes the reader on a journey that begins with looking inside himself for his purpose and passion.

In reality, Gerber's invitation to entrepreneurial dreams is that before you can build a business, you need to have a good sense of who you are, what drives you, and what gets in your way. Gerber proposes that readers who aspire to be entrepreneurs you must learn to "speak to your entrepreneurial soul."

"If you were to truly face your fear of being an entrepreneur, what would you learn? How could you use this to become an excellent entrepreneur?" shares Gerber.

Writing this question down, and taking the time to truly allow the answers to rise up from within my soul, I learned that like all fears mine was based upon past experiences, and the decisions that I had made, based upon who I was then.

These answers also freed me to have the courage to be to say, "I would do ..., ... and ..." These realizations became goals that I easily achieved within minutes of this clarity.

As I replaced my fears with my confident entrepreneurial self, I realized that the questions in the first section of the book though designed to guide readers to identify their vision, purpose and goals, really provide the beginning of a strong business plan.

Further on my journey to entrepreneurship, I was ready for Gerber's seven essential leadership disciplines.

And as a life-time student of human behavior, section two is where I really sat up and took notice. Though my original plan in reading this book was to just to read without becoming deeply involved in it, I couldn't help but to take copious notes. With pencil in hand, and a 3-ring binder in hand, full of blank pages I did not want to miss details that would my memory probably not hold. I was guided into the depths of my journey, searching for all the "Wows" that I could find.

Being one who is more interested in having a conversation with the author, through reading, than being a fast reader, I caught myself saying, "Oh! No. Maybe I should put this down for a week or so. I'm reading this so quickly."

Though this is a "how-to" book, in many respects, it reads like a novel. Rather saying, "Do this, then this," Gerber takes readers on an adventure through sharing not only how he lost millions many years ago, before mastering the disciplines that he teaches, he also guides his readers through many dialogues with a client, Sarah (not her real name, of course).

Sarah had stopped growing as a business owner in those the years since he had first worked with her. And through his coaching, which he presents in great detail, Gerber teaches Sarah that had being an entrepreneur is an ongoing life process.

The questions that Sarah asks, the reactions that she has to his waiting for her to find answers is something that all readers will relate to, and grow from.

Gerber nicely weaves these questions into his seven business leadership disciplines.

In the first of the seven business leadership disciplines, Gerber invites readers to learn what leadership really is. While many may naturally think, "It's being in charge," Gerber goes beyond this. He invites us to consider that being a leader is "Learning how to live with being alone and how to feel at home with asserting to yourself, "I am a leader."

This is much like the notion that to be who you want to be you must do what that person does to have what that person has.

To hone in on what he asks of his readers, Gerber includes many relevant charts that inspire entrepreneurs to ask questions that clarify what matters. These charts are also excellent tools for writing a stellar business plan.

After the reader has established some leadership skills, Gerber teaches marketing skills. There are so many questions in this chapter, both implied and explicit, that even if you don't already have a business, by answering questions in these questions, you will have identified several people who fit into your target market and in what Gerber calls your flank market (secondary).

Not only will you know the typical demographic information, you will also know how your market thinks, behaves and buys. And this is valuable to you as an entrepreneur, because it will save you time and money, everyday. You will not send people out to sell to just anybody. Your sales people will not make others feel like a transaction, because they will be able to develop excellent relationships that naturally result in converting prospects into clients, who become repeat buys, who also refer business to you.

And it is in these possibilities that Gerber guides readers to believe that at the heart of the World Class Company is your ability to better satisfy the unconscious and perceived needs of your customers than any company can, by doing what it is not even reasonable to expect you to do, over and over again.

Reading "E-Myth Mastery," you will be so caught up in what is possible that I'm sure that you will be hard pressed to say, "What is missing?"



Rating:
Summary: E-Myth Mastery--Book Summary
Review: Author Michael Gerber believes that we are all entrepreneurial by nature, but that our creative spirit begins to lose its luster as time passes. However, every once in a while some life event triggers the entrepreneur in us to struggle and break free. Gerber refers to this as having an "entrepreneurial seizure." Unfortunately, a great many who have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug end up failing. Gerber writes on his website (www.e-myth.com), "Of the 1 million U.S. small businesses started this year, more than 800,000 (80%) of them will be out of business within 5 years and 96% will have closed their doors before their 10th birthday." But most of us never take the risk to begin with. Doubt and reality set in and we abandon our entrepreneurial dreams. Fortunately, in his latest book, "E-Myth Mastery", Gerber teaches us how to reclaim our entrepreneurial spirit.

The book takes us through the business development process using Gerber's "seven disciplines for business mastery" as a guidepost. But before we can achieve business mastery we must first understand what exactly the E-Myth is. The "Entrepreneurial Myth" states, "knowing how to do the work of a business has nothing to do with building a business that works" (6). This means that in order to build a "World Class Company" new business owners must accept the fact that they actually have three roles to play -the entrepreneur, manager, and technician. Those who fail in business mistakenly believe that raw natural talent by itself is enough to achieve greatness. Those who succeed follow the seven essential skills required for every successful business: Leadership, Marketing, Money, Management, Client Fulfillment, Lead Conversion, and Lead Generation.

The biggest difference between the technical and entrepreneurial mindset is not necessarily the number of hours worked, but the way in which each works and what elements of the business they choose to focus on. Gerber is fond of saying that the technician works in the business, while the "true entrepreneur" works on the business. A business owner begins to work on the business when they start to develop systems that can be easily duplicated and followed by others. This process culminates when you have changed your old do-it-yourself business into a "turn-key business," which operates much like a franchise. Building systems is not only crucial to building a better business, but it also builds better lives by unleashing a person's natural creativity. Gerber's seven disciplines for business mastery are designed to serve as the basis for systems development.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of fluff
Review: Michael Gerber is a well known buisness speaker and consultant with a long list of speaking titles and books behind his name. This book however, doesn't live up to the hype.

The first 75 pages of the book are a gruelling read. It's not the kind of book that draws you back again, but instead is one that you hae to force yourself to go back to because you've paid the money for the book and you want to get some kind of return on your investment. It does get a bit better after this but it is definetly no gem. It seems like Mr. Gerber took the opportunity to add a lot of superfluous fluff around some concrete ideas and exercises in order to make a bigger book. It is one of those books that you wish you could shift through all the junk to reveal the nuggets of useful information.

This book may work for those with unending patience but there are more useful ways to spend your time.

Rating:
Summary: E-Myth Mastery a Book That Rocks
Review: This book rocks. I should buy it.

Signed,
Erica Phillips
(Myth's are fun to learn about)

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Summary: Millionaire Real Estate Investor Finds Lifes Joy
Review: Two days ago I bought "the e-myth mastery". The first part of that book totally blew my mind. It was as if someone had tapped into the actual thoughts I have been thinking. So many things now fit together.

One thing I realized is that real estate investors are by nature, technicians. Therefore my business is the result of an entreprenurial seizure. I spend too much time IN my business because it makes me feel needed. Writing action plans was just a way to continue that addiction while employees were doing their work.

My wife and I are both intelligent people. As a result we experienced some real difficulties in the past. Today we talked about the book and realized that our conflicts were the result of two technicians trying to outperform each other. We have both been at the top scholastically and in sales. However that did not make us happy. For the first time in months we were happy just talking about creating. We have been freed from the opinions of our peers about what life and work looks like. Technicians can be very intimidating to newbies. Today we have taken a step in a very uncertain direction but one that no longer involves doing anything. Our lives belong to us now.

From what I understand the whole concept of mastery is to direct ones passions towards creativity rather than activity. Freedom is clarity of vision. I can see that as a owner of my company because other people will find inspiration in a clear vision. That is what was missing for my employees - my vision for the enterprise. They deserve a strong leader who will say "This is what we are here to do". All the damage control was sucking the life from me while I clung to it like a drowning man. Somehow I created that chaos from the desire to be needed. Now its time to create.

Every other business coach has taught how to bring out my productivity through goals. This is the first time a business coach has made the case for me to be less productive by not doing it. But the truth of the e-myth approach is undeniable. Rather than burying myself in goals and more doing it the magic has come back. I can see the business doing better and thriving with no employee problems. The part of me that was small wanted to prevent my creative self from making something bigger than I could understand. But creating without purpose is its own reward. I can learn to let go.

To conclude, the e-myth mastery rocked my world. I am now completely terrified of a life where the business has no need of me. As a smart person (ie - technician) I have never imagined what a life without doing something productive looks like. The next challenge is to learn what having a life looks like. This is the most amazing experience I have ever had. Thank you for leading me to a whole new understanding of life. This is incredible!


Rating:
Summary: The Cult of Michael Gerber
Review: Well, I really wanted to like this book. I own Gerber's other E-Myth products and I was looking for a main course, some meat after the fluffy appetizer in the other books. I was very disappointed. While Gerber is a very intelligent man with wisdom and alot of insights, he loves to tell longwinded stories that don't enhance the material. After reading this book you will almost be convinced that Gerber was paid by the word. Gerber's essential idea is that most small business owners work "in their business" and not "on their business" and how they should systematize and build a "franchise prototype" so that the business runs efficiently.

You will also find out that this product is a lead in to signing up with a coach at the E-Myth Mastery website if you want some real "meat and potatoes."

I am convinced that if I plunked down the dollars needed for one of Gerber's coaches, I would probably be dealing with a low paid employee that is using Gerber's "operations manual" as he teaches that your business should be able to be run by low level employees that work the business systems.

I also get the feeling that if I did sign up for Gerber's coaching, I would probably be lead to sign up for a month long summit with Michael Gerber on some Polynesian island where all of the real secrets will be finally revealed.

While the principles in all of the books are sound, it is tantamount to telling you to look both ways when crossing the street and then telling you the hows, whens and whys of looking before crossing the street and drawing out the importance through example and story telling when you got the message in the first sentence. Enough, what is on the other side of the street? You won't find out in this book.

Do yourself a favor. Buy the E-Myth Revisited, learn the basic principles and then use your own mind and gut to lead you to the next level. I have a feeling that there are many entrepreneurs that get sucked into the "Cult of Michael Gerber" and roam the Earth searching endlessly for some specific information about how they can apply Gerber's principles to their business. I wish those lonely wanderers good luck.