Here is one of my all-time favorite business books from Michael Gerber called E-Myth. I remember the first time I read this book and realized I was not thinking about business properly. I focused on what I could get done. I should have focused on creating a system to teach anyone how to get things done. This paradigm shift began the creation of the Team training system and the results that followed. Thank you Michael Gerber—you taught me to think through a business in a systematic fashion and this produced long-term results! God Bless, Orrin Woodward
Ever wonder why most small businesses-- no matter how huge effort they put in their endeavor--still fail? Michael Gerber reveals the answers in this book. Accordingly, the future of small businesses revolves in only three philosophies: the e-myth (entrepreneurial myth), the turn-key revolution, and the business development process.
The E-myth
The e-myth, or the entrepreneurial myth, evolved from one very fatal assumption-- that the success of every business is simply achieved by summing up the following: an entrepreneur's desire to own a business plus the certain amount of capital he puts in plus the knowing the amount of targeted profit.
Little did the entrepreneurs know that this assumption spell DISASTER rather than SUCCESS. Entrepreneurs need to learn to focus more on the business—the people involved in it and the phases it normally undergoes. Knowledge on these can save small businesses from experiencing entrepreneurial seizure—a stage wherein an entrepreneur goes through feeling of exhilaration, exhaustion, and despair.
Small businesses basically consist of three main characters namely: the technician (the doer and builder), the manager (the planner), and the entrepreneur (the dreamer, visionary). Moreover, small businesses have different life phases. These are: infancy (the technician's phase); adolescence (getting some help phase); beyond the comfort zone; and, maturity and the entrepreneurial perspective.
The Turn-key Revolution
As implied by the term itself, Turn-key Revolution speaks of the distinct transformations on the way businesses are managed and should be managed. One very prominent example is the introduction of McDonalds the idea of business format franchise to the business world.
The business format franchise has set dramatic turn around on the future of small businesses. Here, the franchisor entitles the franchisee to owning rights to his entire business system. This format is anchored on the belief that the real product of a business is its sales technique rather than what it sells.
The Business Development Process
The business development process is the response to the unending dynamism of the business world. It equips the entrepreneur with the necessary tools to preempt the continuous changes happening around. The process is comprised of three elemental stages: innovation, quantification and orchestration.
The business development program requires the following aspects to be defined:
Your Primary Aim. The owner's primary aim should center on what he really wishes, needs and wants for his life. Defining this will push the owner to pursue his defined entrepreneurial dreams.
Your Strategic Objectives.
This contains standards that help the owner achieve his goals for his business. This should answer the question: What purpose will this serve my primary aim?
Your Organizational Strategy.
Business owners should learn how to appreciate the value of organizational structures. Some points to consider are organizing around personalities, organizing your company, and position contract.
Your Management Strategy.
As the owner you should recognize the truth that the successful implementation of a management strategy is not dependent on the people who could implement it but on the system instead.
Your People Strategy.
This refers to the approach you take towards your people and their work. To make people appreciate the work they do, you should make them understand the idea behind each of their task assignments.
Your Marketing Strategy.
Here is the stage where all attention suddenly shifts from owner to the customer. You set aside your personal goals first and start focusing on the customer's needs.
Your Systems Strategy. There are three kinds of systems in a business: the hard systems, the soft systems and the information systems. The hard systems refer to all those in your business that are inanimate and has no life. The soft systems refer to all those that could be living or inanimate. The information systems are everything else in the business that provides you with data relating to how the two earlier systems interact.
