Michael E. Gerber
The E-Myth Revisited
ISBN: 978-0-88-730728-7
Why do so many small businesses fail? It’s not for lack of trying. Most small businesses and startups in the United States fail for one reason or another – lack of funding, poor product-market fit, founder team dysfunction, among others. In The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber attempts to answer this question with four different ideas that tackle business development, franchising, and getting entrepreneurs to quit working in their business, but getting them to work on their business.
The first part of the book address the entrepreneurial myth, or “E Myth,” in the United States. The myth of entrepreneurship is that founders are magical people who are able to overcome unreal obstacles to realize the dream of creating a business from scratch. This myth neglects to mention all of the other inputs necessary to create a successful business or startup – family and friend support, mentor networks, community resources, etc. Just because you haven’t reached the lofty heights of other entrepreneurs doesn’t mean that you are on the immediate road to failure. This is an excellent message for new entrepreneurs especially, who might feel defeated early in the journey and decide to give up before they really need to quit.
Gerber also discusses technical business owners – the “technicians.” These are folks who start a business because they either have a particular skill or love to do a particular thing, and just build the business around that. These types of founders get caught in the trap of continuing to just perform that task, to the point where it becomes a chore. These founders have a difficult time breaking through the cycle and are not able to work on business development as they should. The author gives readers tips and tricks to break out of the cycle and graduate first to the “manager” stage, and then move fully into the “entrepreneur” stage – two steps beyond doing everything yourself, and one step beyond merely managing others doing the task around which you built the business. He does a great job laying out how you move from technician to manager to entrepreneur through his process.
The rest of the book focuses on franchising out your business model to reduce chaos – the “turn-key revolution,” as Gerber calls it. This is the final stage he covers, where the franchiser is fully working on the business rather than in the business. He lays out clear objectives, and the process is a quick, easy read. Gerber also includes chapters on some of the most important aspects of building a business, including managing people and finances as the entrepreneur and franchiser continues to work on the business – some of these topics are difficult for first-time (and sometimes repeat) entrepreneurs to master, and can jettison all of the process if handled incorrectly. All in all, The E-Myth Revisited comes off as a complete resource for entrepreneurs looking to break free from redundant tasks that don’t add to the overall growth of the business.
Overall, 8/10, would recommend as a great read to take your business or startup to the next stage, beyond one person or a team wearing all of the hats, to leaders who are able to delegate certain tasks so that they can work on expand the business rather than just working on a craft. I feel like this book could be a great kick in the pants for people who are stuck in a rut and need to examine where they are and where they would like things to go.