Book review of “The E-Myth Revisited” for Entrepreneurs' Connection

Book review of “The E-Myth Revisited” for Entrepreneurs' Connection

Do you find yourself overworked, understaffed, or worse have a feeling you’re going broke at your company? Have you felt that if things don’t change you may come to hate the work you do. “The E Myth Revisited” book is a guide to success for small business owners. Author Michael Gerber observed that most small businesses are started by what he calls "technicians", that is people who are skilled at something and who enjoy doing that thing. (For example that can be anything from a computer programmer to plumber to a dog groomer to a musician or lawyer.) When these technicians strike out on their own, they tend to continue doing the work they are skilled at, and ignore the overarching aspects of business. Rather than owning a business, they own a job, and they find themselves working for managers who are completely clueless about how to run a business- -themselves.

The solution, Gerber suggests looking at franchises as a model. In comparison to the dismal rate of ordinary small-business start-ups, 75% of franchises succeed at 5 years. The reason they succeed is that they are set up so that any unskilled person off the street could walk in, buy a franchise, run all operations in the franchise, and have a fairly good chance of success. The product of franchise companies is a business model, not food, hotel rooms, etc. In order to meet this level of success, franchise companies have clear operations manuals, procedures, consistent sales approaches- -every detail of running the business is specified down to dress codes and wall paper.

By asking us to consider the franchise approach, Gerber is not saying to go out and buy a franchise license. Instead, he says to imagine that you want to sell your business as a successful franchise within a finite period of time. If so, what will you need to do regarding your business plan and management in order to meet this goal? That is, if you were going to make your business fool-proof so that any unskilled person could take over as owner after a few years and succeed with it, what will you need to do?

Overall, I found the ideas in this book extremely insightful and incredibly useful. He can be a bit wordy and choppy at times. If you're a small business owner whose business is out of control, stagnant, or worse, this book can be a light in the dark.

Don’t miss out Go buy this book and use it to build your business. Click here and pick up a copy.

Robert Biro

513-238-0744

rbiro@wbhomebuyers.com