E-Myth guide for small business to make it big

Be the change you want to see. The E-Myth author Michael Gerber asks business leaders to lead by example.

The E Myth cover

If the technician did not know how to do the technical work for the business, he would have to learn how to get it done.

According to the E-Myth revisited, there are three steps in a business organisation:

1. Entrepreneur
2. Manager 
3. Technician
   

Every business organisation initially starts with you. You have the idea. You know the nuts and bolts of what you are working on. In other words, you are the technician. 

Not only do you know the technical work, but you also start getting into the business side. For example bookkeeping, inventory management, customer care etc.

After some time the balls of the master juggler, i.e. you, keep dropping. 

 

In his book, The E-Myth Michael Gerber added a fictional character named Sarah. Sarah left her well-settled job to start the business of her passion, that is, pancakes. She knew how to make the best pancakes. But after some time she got frustrated. Baking pancakes was like another job for Sarah. On the other hand, she had to do the bookkeeping, inventory management etc herself.

Michael Gerber met his disciple Sarah to help her out.

E Myth: the turnkey business revolution

Michael Gerber asks the entrepreneur to ask the right questions: Where do I wish to be? When do I wish to be there? How much capital will that take? How many people, doing what work and how? What technology will be required? How large a space will be needed? 

Technician versus entrepreneur

The entrepreneurial perspective envisions the business in its entirety, from which is derived its parts. The technician's perspective envisions the business in parts, from which is constructed the whole.

The entrepreneurial model does not start with a picture of the business to be created but of a customer for whom the business is to be created. 

The franchise phenomena

Fact: McDonald's is the largest employer of high school youth in the American economy.

According to E Myth discipline, standardization, order, cleanliness & little operating discretion determine a business organisation's success. Note: we cannot learn discipline by compulsion.

The franchise prototype asks: how do I give my customer what he wants while maintaining control of the business that's giving it to him. 

In a successful franchise model, you and your people must know what ought to be done.

In a successful franchise model, 'a how to do it guide' must be provided to guide the purpose, steps and standards of your business.

According to the E-Myth author Michael Gerber, innovation is required for a successful turn-key operation. Innovation for a businessman is to constantly ask himself what is standing in the way of my customer, getting what he wants from my business. 

Hence, the exact responses to customer enquiries, complaints, concerns, handling incoming calls, outgoing calls, meeting the customer at the door, the order is entered, returns are transacted, new product requests are acted upon, inventory is secured, etcetera must be recorded for business innovation.

E-Myth: What is quality?

Quality includes harmony, balance, passion, intention, attention et cetera. 

Location of business matters

Sarah gives an example to show the importance of the location for a business. Sarah is going to find land that she is going to have to plant, centrally located between the shops so that each has the access it needs.

Finally, Michael Gerber defines an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is the one who finds a perceived need and fills it.