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Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies
“No business author has touched me as deeply as Michael Gerber has.” —Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul bestselling book series The legendary Michael Gerber—founder of E-Myth Worldwide and author of such multi-million copy bestselling classics as The E-Myth Revisited and E-Myth Mastery —shows you how to go from dreaming about having your own business to actually doing it in Awakening the Entrepreneur Within. A highly in-demand keynote speaker whose company boasts over 52,000 business clients in 145 countries, Michael Gerber is THE name in small business—and now he demonstrates “How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies.” Making your dreams real is the first step to creating a successful business—and Gerber’s Awakening the Entrepreneur Within provides the key.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 4, 2008
82 people are currently reading
908 people want to read
About the author
Michael E. Gerber
89 books642 followersMichael E. Gerber is an American author and founder of Michael E. Gerber Companies, a business skills training company based in Carlsbad, California.
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December 9, 2018
http://imeducatingmyself.com/awakenin...
If you’re someone who is considering to start their own business and need a book that will bring into some basic insights about starting, running and making the business work; and to read something that will motivate you as well – then I can suggest you to read this book. Don’t expect to from this book to be your only guide that you need to read and hop right in into the implementation of your business idea(s). This is very basic book, but it’s well put together and contains right balance of example stories and tips you need to know. Only reason for my 3 star rating, is that I know already 90% of things from this book.
This books is focused on four main dimension that you need to master before you went into starting your own business. And those are:
The Dreamer
The Thinker
The Storyteller
The Leader
This book is also good for people who are good workers and thinking to start your own business. It’s good because it touches the subject of why many of those businesses fails. The truth is that many of the businesses started by great peoples, who are hard workers, but end up with failing businesses. There are many more skills that needs to be taught to have a successful business. On this subject I would rather suggest you to read another book from the same author, and it’s called The E-Myth. This books goes more in depth about creating a business system that works. But I would say that it’s not perfect, because everything comes down to the experience, and you’ll not be able to read a couple of books and create great business for yourself. There are many obstacles on the way.
As for this book, once again, go ahead and read it if you’re someone who feels motivated lately to start your own business. You’ll get some insights and then proceed to the another book that I’ve suggested above. If you are someone who is already running their own business and have a bit os struggles with it – then I’m not sure that this book will be helpful for you. The last part might be helpful (it was for me) to get better understanding of importance of taking good care about your customers. This part is good for those who already have their own business.
If you’re someone who is considering to start their own business and need a book that will bring into some basic insights about starting, running and making the business work; and to read something that will motivate you as well – then I can suggest you to read this book. Don’t expect to from this book to be your only guide that you need to read and hop right in into the implementation of your business idea(s). This is very basic book, but it’s well put together and contains right balance of example stories and tips you need to know. Only reason for my 3 star rating, is that I know already 90% of things from this book.
This books is focused on four main dimension that you need to master before you went into starting your own business. And those are:
The Dreamer
The Thinker
The Storyteller
The Leader
This book is also good for people who are good workers and thinking to start your own business. It’s good because it touches the subject of why many of those businesses fails. The truth is that many of the businesses started by great peoples, who are hard workers, but end up with failing businesses. There are many more skills that needs to be taught to have a successful business. On this subject I would rather suggest you to read another book from the same author, and it’s called The E-Myth. This books goes more in depth about creating a business system that works. But I would say that it’s not perfect, because everything comes down to the experience, and you’ll not be able to read a couple of books and create great business for yourself. There are many obstacles on the way.
As for this book, once again, go ahead and read it if you’re someone who feels motivated lately to start your own business. You’ll get some insights and then proceed to the another book that I’ve suggested above. If you are someone who is already running their own business and have a bit os struggles with it – then I’m not sure that this book will be helpful for you. The last part might be helpful (it was for me) to get better understanding of importance of taking good care about your customers. This part is good for those who already have their own business.
April 6, 2021
The Fatal Assumption
By believing that running a business is all about work, most small businesses don’t work; the people who start, run, and attempt to succeed in them, do work hard but fail.
The Sudden Seeing
The sudden seeing is the epiphany that happens when in one inscrutable, revelatory instant, the world reveals its secrets to you. That is a rare and indelible moment indeed. It is there in that lucid moment of clarity that the entrepreneur is provided with a rare glimpse inside a mystery, which is what a business is. It is a mystery in which people, processes, systems, ideas and facts, customers, investors, technology, and an overriding single-minded purpose come together to produce an original result that people love to produce inside the company and that people love to buy outside of the company.
The Five Realities of the Entrepreneur
REALITY #1
An entrepreneur is an inventor, although few inventors are entrepreneurs. An inventor sees the world through alert, wide-open eyes. An inventor lives asking the question, “What’s missing in this picture?” and then answers it by inventing the missing piece that makes the picture whole. He can’t help himself, it’s just what he is called to do. What an entrepreneur does next, however, is what makes the difference between him and all other inventors.
REALITY #2
Entrepreneurs do not buy business opportunities; they create them. While business opportunities such as franchises are more likely to guarantee the success of the person who buys them, they are only successful to the degree the buyer suppresses his or her inclination to invent—suppresses his or her entrepreneurial passion. Therefore, entrepreneurs who buy business opportunities are doomed to disappointment, no matter how successful the business is. The passion of the entrepreneur is not to run a successful business—not to run a business someone else invented—but to invent a unique business that becomes successful.
REALITY #3
Invention is contagious. People love to experience an original business idea that has been successfully manifested in the world. So, the entrepreneur’s passion comes not only from inventing a new business but also from basking in the delight of other people as they gladly experience his or her invention. The entrepreneur, in this sense, is no different from a performer whose love for what he or she does is dramatically increased by the enthusiastic response from the audience.
REALITY #4
To an entrepreneur, the success of the invention—the business—is measured by growth. The faster the business grows, the more successful is the invention. The slower the business grows, the less successful is the invention. To an entrepreneur, slow growth or no growth is death. To be caught up in a slow- or no-growth business is to be doomed to show up every day to perform in a show nobody enjoys. On Broadway, shows that nobody enjoys close quickly. Businesses that nobody enjoys should close quickly so that everyone can go out looking for an experience they love.
REALITY #5
Everyone possesses the ability to be an entrepreneur—to invent, to conceive of a great idea for a new business, and to create an original business based upon a simple but explosive idea. For some of us it may take longer to develop that ability, it may take more work. For others it may take little more than the awareness of what differentiates the entrepreneur from the manager and the technician to set off a flood of entrepreneurial excitement. In either case, however, it is necessary for each of us to know that learning to invent, to create, to conceive of an original business is both a process of discovery and the development of the patience necessary to sustain one’s interest while developing one’s skill.
Entrepreneurs are made, not born. There is no corner on creativity. There is simply the desire to express it. Once that desire appears, you can be assured that you have awakened the entrepreneur within. The very presence of that desire means that the entrepreneur is up and dreaming.
Four dimensions of the entrepreneurial personality:
There are four dimensions of the entrepreneurial personality that come into play in the creation of a new venture: the Dreamer, the Thinker, the Storyteller, and the Leader.
THE DREAMER
Surprisingly, the Dreamer is the least known and understood personality within the entrepreneur. You would think it would be exactly the opposite. Everyone knows that entrepreneurs dream, but few people truly know what it means to dream. They think of dreaming as daydreaming, as wishful thinking.
THE THINKER
The Thinker is the Dreamer’s most important companion, his most important ally. He listens carefully to the Dreamer’s thoughts, and knows that without the special role he plays in the manifestation of the Dreamer’s vision, the Dreamer would be lost. The Thinker asks the questions essential to formulating the business model—the form the Dream will take visually, emotionally, functionally, and financially—as well as the impact the Dream will have on its customers, its investors, its employees, its suppliers, and its strategic partners.
THE STORYTELLER
The Storyteller could be called by his other name, the Performer. He is the one who evokes excitement when the Dream is conveyed to other people. The Storyteller knows that without a compelling story, no Dream would become a reality in the world of ordinary people in which the Dream is intended to manifest itself as a striking reality. The Storyteller knows that without a compelling story, no Dream would ever become a reality. The Storyteller digs deeply into the Dreamer’s Vision and the Thinker’s formulation of that Vision, and looks for the creative arc that lies at the heart of every great story.
THE LEADER
The Leader is the one who assumes responsibility for moving the Dream forward, takes accountability for fulfilling the Dream, for knowing where he is going, how he is going to get there, when he’s going to get there, and what the venture will look like when it gets there. The Leader takes on the Vision and the formulation of the enterprise. The Leader knows the Story, buys the Story, lives the Story, is committed to the Story, and tells the Story in concrete terms that are evidence of the fact that the Story is more than just a story but rather a tangible reality that can be lived and experienced.
The Awakening
The Awakening is the flashpoint where the entrepreneur within comes awake with the sudden seeing of an opportunity that he had never seen before. It’s as if he were hibernating until that auspicious moment, waiting silently for something to occur, when, for reasons unknown to him, something says, “Wake up!” and he does, hungry as a bear coming out of a long winter’s sleep to eat his fill of all these extraordinary and luscious new foods that are beckoning him.
By believing that running a business is all about work, most small businesses don’t work; the people who start, run, and attempt to succeed in them, do work hard but fail.
The Sudden Seeing
The sudden seeing is the epiphany that happens when in one inscrutable, revelatory instant, the world reveals its secrets to you. That is a rare and indelible moment indeed. It is there in that lucid moment of clarity that the entrepreneur is provided with a rare glimpse inside a mystery, which is what a business is. It is a mystery in which people, processes, systems, ideas and facts, customers, investors, technology, and an overriding single-minded purpose come together to produce an original result that people love to produce inside the company and that people love to buy outside of the company.
The Five Realities of the Entrepreneur
REALITY #1
An entrepreneur is an inventor, although few inventors are entrepreneurs. An inventor sees the world through alert, wide-open eyes. An inventor lives asking the question, “What’s missing in this picture?” and then answers it by inventing the missing piece that makes the picture whole. He can’t help himself, it’s just what he is called to do. What an entrepreneur does next, however, is what makes the difference between him and all other inventors.
REALITY #2
Entrepreneurs do not buy business opportunities; they create them. While business opportunities such as franchises are more likely to guarantee the success of the person who buys them, they are only successful to the degree the buyer suppresses his or her inclination to invent—suppresses his or her entrepreneurial passion. Therefore, entrepreneurs who buy business opportunities are doomed to disappointment, no matter how successful the business is. The passion of the entrepreneur is not to run a successful business—not to run a business someone else invented—but to invent a unique business that becomes successful.
REALITY #3
Invention is contagious. People love to experience an original business idea that has been successfully manifested in the world. So, the entrepreneur’s passion comes not only from inventing a new business but also from basking in the delight of other people as they gladly experience his or her invention. The entrepreneur, in this sense, is no different from a performer whose love for what he or she does is dramatically increased by the enthusiastic response from the audience.
REALITY #4
To an entrepreneur, the success of the invention—the business—is measured by growth. The faster the business grows, the more successful is the invention. The slower the business grows, the less successful is the invention. To an entrepreneur, slow growth or no growth is death. To be caught up in a slow- or no-growth business is to be doomed to show up every day to perform in a show nobody enjoys. On Broadway, shows that nobody enjoys close quickly. Businesses that nobody enjoys should close quickly so that everyone can go out looking for an experience they love.
REALITY #5
Everyone possesses the ability to be an entrepreneur—to invent, to conceive of a great idea for a new business, and to create an original business based upon a simple but explosive idea. For some of us it may take longer to develop that ability, it may take more work. For others it may take little more than the awareness of what differentiates the entrepreneur from the manager and the technician to set off a flood of entrepreneurial excitement. In either case, however, it is necessary for each of us to know that learning to invent, to create, to conceive of an original business is both a process of discovery and the development of the patience necessary to sustain one’s interest while developing one’s skill.
Entrepreneurs are made, not born. There is no corner on creativity. There is simply the desire to express it. Once that desire appears, you can be assured that you have awakened the entrepreneur within. The very presence of that desire means that the entrepreneur is up and dreaming.
Four dimensions of the entrepreneurial personality:
There are four dimensions of the entrepreneurial personality that come into play in the creation of a new venture: the Dreamer, the Thinker, the Storyteller, and the Leader.
THE DREAMER
Surprisingly, the Dreamer is the least known and understood personality within the entrepreneur. You would think it would be exactly the opposite. Everyone knows that entrepreneurs dream, but few people truly know what it means to dream. They think of dreaming as daydreaming, as wishful thinking.
THE THINKER
The Thinker is the Dreamer’s most important companion, his most important ally. He listens carefully to the Dreamer’s thoughts, and knows that without the special role he plays in the manifestation of the Dreamer’s vision, the Dreamer would be lost. The Thinker asks the questions essential to formulating the business model—the form the Dream will take visually, emotionally, functionally, and financially—as well as the impact the Dream will have on its customers, its investors, its employees, its suppliers, and its strategic partners.
THE STORYTELLER
The Storyteller could be called by his other name, the Performer. He is the one who evokes excitement when the Dream is conveyed to other people. The Storyteller knows that without a compelling story, no Dream would become a reality in the world of ordinary people in which the Dream is intended to manifest itself as a striking reality. The Storyteller knows that without a compelling story, no Dream would ever become a reality. The Storyteller digs deeply into the Dreamer’s Vision and the Thinker’s formulation of that Vision, and looks for the creative arc that lies at the heart of every great story.
THE LEADER
The Leader is the one who assumes responsibility for moving the Dream forward, takes accountability for fulfilling the Dream, for knowing where he is going, how he is going to get there, when he’s going to get there, and what the venture will look like when it gets there. The Leader takes on the Vision and the formulation of the enterprise. The Leader knows the Story, buys the Story, lives the Story, is committed to the Story, and tells the Story in concrete terms that are evidence of the fact that the Story is more than just a story but rather a tangible reality that can be lived and experienced.
The Awakening
The Awakening is the flashpoint where the entrepreneur within comes awake with the sudden seeing of an opportunity that he had never seen before. It’s as if he were hibernating until that auspicious moment, waiting silently for something to occur, when, for reasons unknown to him, something says, “Wake up!” and he does, hungry as a bear coming out of a long winter’s sleep to eat his fill of all these extraordinary and luscious new foods that are beckoning him.
January 17, 2016
If you read this book to completion, you should get a medal or cookie or something. It was a chore. Michael is full of his reviews from past books. He also wrote a book that does not ring true. Even his conversation with his Mom sounded insincere.
I wanted to like this book when I started it. I wanted Michael to teach me something. Instead, he tried to sell me something. Sorry, I'm not buying.
Michael spent a huge chunk of the book on his fictional business concept. It is a dream. Not a goal, but a dream. Michael will never start this business. Michael will not start any business. He will only consult and talk about business. He criticizes business technicians of just "doing it, doing it, doing it" yet he spends his life just talking it, talking, talking it.
Michael, this would have been a good book if it were a dream realized. If you started the Manny Espinoza business, then you might have something. This was fluff.
Most of my reviews are positive—four or five stars. I am selective of the book I read. Like almost everyone, my time is limited. I feel cheated when I come across a clinker. This is a clinker.
I've read four or five of Gerber's E-Myth books. What I like is that he gives an outline of a plan and he is one of the few authors dedicated to small business owners. Jim Collins is great, but there is not much chance of translating his stuff to a small business environment.
What I don't like about Gerber, and I just realized this at the beginning of this book, is that he does not like small business owners. He disdains them. He only likes entrepreneurs.
Well, Michael, not everyone can be or wants to be an entrepreneur. Some of us are good at being small business owners. There is nothing wrong with that. We just want to get better at it.
I wanted to like this book when I started it. I wanted Michael to teach me something. Instead, he tried to sell me something. Sorry, I'm not buying.
Michael spent a huge chunk of the book on his fictional business concept. It is a dream. Not a goal, but a dream. Michael will never start this business. Michael will not start any business. He will only consult and talk about business. He criticizes business technicians of just "doing it, doing it, doing it" yet he spends his life just talking it, talking, talking it.
Michael, this would have been a good book if it were a dream realized. If you started the Manny Espinoza business, then you might have something. This was fluff.
Most of my reviews are positive—four or five stars. I am selective of the book I read. Like almost everyone, my time is limited. I feel cheated when I come across a clinker. This is a clinker.
I've read four or five of Gerber's E-Myth books. What I like is that he gives an outline of a plan and he is one of the few authors dedicated to small business owners. Jim Collins is great, but there is not much chance of translating his stuff to a small business environment.
What I don't like about Gerber, and I just realized this at the beginning of this book, is that he does not like small business owners. He disdains them. He only likes entrepreneurs.
Well, Michael, not everyone can be or wants to be an entrepreneur. Some of us are good at being small business owners. There is nothing wrong with that. We just want to get better at it.
September 15, 2015
This audio book was narrated by Gerber himself. He covers his life choices, doubts and victories in business. He also gives input on to awaken and thrive as an entrepreneur mostly with real life examples.
MY GRADE: B minus to B
MY GRADE: B minus to B
June 10, 2017
I've enjoyed the E-myth books. This one is Michael's next project - and there are some great lessons and steps but honestly it's a bit unfocused. Granted, it could be me - and simply just not the right time for the book in my life... Still finished it and glad I did. I truly hope someone takes his fictional idea of "Who is Manny Espinoza" company and really creates it! What a fantastic idea!
September 14, 2021
If you've had a dream about starting up a new business, this book will be life changing. It takes the various rolls our mind goes through, the Dreamer, the Thinker, the Storyteller and the Leader. Get these roles clear in your mind, know what each job is and you gain so much clarity on the way forward.
October 31, 2025
The first half was difficult to follow. The author tries too hard to make every sentence quotable.
The second section is the story of a fictional business. This was easy to follow and makes you think about the process of launching a meaningful business.
The last few pages give an outline of how to develop a business from the ground up, which is very useful.
The second section is the story of a fictional business. This was easy to follow and makes you think about the process of launching a meaningful business.
The last few pages give an outline of how to develop a business from the ground up, which is very useful.
February 23, 2017
Good book. Many gems here. Reading this book made me rethink the value of ideas, the value of dreaming--intentional dreaming the author calls it. Intentional dreaming is hard work but what choice does one have? Then, I'd like to know more about 'systems thinking'.
January 21, 2021
Good and informative. Unfortunately, also full of non-essential and unnecessary information that was just a "filling". The book could be twice as good if it went straight to the point. It would also be just half the length, or less.
June 30, 2017
The most helpful book for those who want to take a leap to entrepreneurship.
January 3, 2018
Dream big
You will take time to digest and understand this. If you are in entrepreneurial journey, you will connect this so well.
You will take time to digest and understand this. If you are in entrepreneurial journey, you will connect this so well.
August 1, 2020
Unlike the E-myth Revisited, this one is full of fluff. I got it at Goodwill for $2, but it's not even worth that much to me. I will just donate it back to Goodwill.
January 9, 2026
Even qiyamah happened in a world, business still not in worked. Good mindset required. There is no God, but Allah SWT. Ahlussunnah wal jama'ah.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2012
Gerber wrote an excellent book called The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It. Very insightful. Like a mix between Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values and Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition. The original E-Myth is excellent. It sets a high bar.
Unfortunately, "Awakening the Entrepreneur Within" doesn't add much. Probably would be better off using the same time to re-read the original The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.
Unfortunately, "Awakening the Entrepreneur Within" doesn't add much. Probably would be better off using the same time to re-read the original The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.
Read
March 5, 2016April-2010 Author the E-myth series, Gerber teaches - "Create sales not marketing." Most business owners are not impressed with slick brochures & advertisting but rather new sales that creates an true impact.
Business development program should include: Marketing, Accounting, & Business Growth
10 Pillars of Successful Businesses are:
1. All businesses require a Vision.
2. All Visions are both personal and impersonal.
3. Every company is an organization.
4. An organization is an organizations of systems.
5. Ther is no such thing as customer service...There is only customer commitment, making an outrageous promise to your customer & keeping it every time.
6. Master the money from the bottom of the business to the top.
7. Your people are not your business & your business is not your people. They are interested in your business to the degree it provides them what they want.
8. Your business is an idea (either good or bad).
9. Your know more about your business than anyone else.
10. Your business must mean something. It must make a difference.
Author Michael Gerber describes 4 types of people in business: The Dreamer, The Thinker, The Story Teller, & The Leader. Which one are you?
Business development program should include: Marketing, Accounting, & Business Growth
10 Pillars of Successful Businesses are:
1. All businesses require a Vision.
2. All Visions are both personal and impersonal.
3. Every company is an organization.
4. An organization is an organizations of systems.
5. Ther is no such thing as customer service...There is only customer commitment, making an outrageous promise to your customer & keeping it every time.
6. Master the money from the bottom of the business to the top.
7. Your people are not your business & your business is not your people. They are interested in your business to the degree it provides them what they want.
8. Your business is an idea (either good or bad).
9. Your know more about your business than anyone else.
10. Your business must mean something. It must make a difference.
Author Michael Gerber describes 4 types of people in business: The Dreamer, The Thinker, The Story Teller, & The Leader. Which one are you?
December 4, 2009
There were some great nuggets in this book that I really got a lot from.
One was the discussion about the different roles that comprise entrepreneurship. These roles, from the dreamer/visionary who comes up with the ideas, to the implementer who turns them into reality, an entrepreneurial endeavor requires a wide range of skills and ways of thinking. A person may fill one or more of those roles, but it is extremely useful to be able to distinguish which roles are a match for an inspiring entrepreneur's personality.
There's also a great discussion about common mistakes that people who want to become entrepreneurs make (including creating a business to which they will become enslaved just like any other job).
And finally, a section in which the author provides an example of creating what I dubbed my "business creation manifesto". It's a truly inspiring work of manifestation through language, which I've personally turned into a sort of mission statement or charter that I read to remind myself about the vision I'm bringing to life in the world.
Great read for any aspiring entrepreneur!
One was the discussion about the different roles that comprise entrepreneurship. These roles, from the dreamer/visionary who comes up with the ideas, to the implementer who turns them into reality, an entrepreneurial endeavor requires a wide range of skills and ways of thinking. A person may fill one or more of those roles, but it is extremely useful to be able to distinguish which roles are a match for an inspiring entrepreneur's personality.
There's also a great discussion about common mistakes that people who want to become entrepreneurs make (including creating a business to which they will become enslaved just like any other job).
And finally, a section in which the author provides an example of creating what I dubbed my "business creation manifesto". It's a truly inspiring work of manifestation through language, which I've personally turned into a sort of mission statement or charter that I read to remind myself about the vision I'm bringing to life in the world.
Great read for any aspiring entrepreneur!
April 20, 2013
This was my first Michael Gerber book. After seeing negative reviews about E-Myth revisited and the fact that I didn't really want to own a small business anyway, I grabbed this book because I just wanted to start with Awakening the Entrepreneur within me first. This book was crap. Although I'd never read any of his other books, the whole first half of the book seemed like recycled stories from his other books and a history of his business experience. I kept reading anyway waiting for something great. It never came. This man basically made up a bogus story for the whole last half of the book to encourage the reader to use our imagination. I hate I wasted my day away reading this crap. It did not awaken anything in me except frustration and didn't teach me the first about becoming an entrepreneur. The few steps he listed in the last chapter were the only thing that made this book half way worth anything. Im glad I only borrowed it from the library.
August 16, 2010
In this book, Michael talks about the various fazes one goes through as a person starting a new business. This starts with an awakening, to a realization, to the negative reaction, to the personal dream, to the impersonal dream, to sudden shock and the dream is born.
I thought the most interesting part was Michael talking about this awakening inside of your brain of wanting to start your business, to the other side of the brain telling you that you can't do it. I think this is a huge obstacle for everyone wanting to start a company. Once one can get over this negative feedback, then they can go on and create a company.
Michael also talks about the steps to create your company, replicate it for others and build it national. Good read, highly recomend it.
I thought the most interesting part was Michael talking about this awakening inside of your brain of wanting to start your business, to the other side of the brain telling you that you can't do it. I think this is a huge obstacle for everyone wanting to start a company. Once one can get over this negative feedback, then they can go on and create a company.
Michael also talks about the steps to create your company, replicate it for others and build it national. Good read, highly recomend it.
February 14, 2010
I didn't find it as amazing as his other works. The main messages that stuck for me were (a) make your business about helping others and not just yourself, and (b) do something that nobody has done before and break new ground. I was annoyed by how he talked about the Dreaming Room from the start of the book without ever concisely and clearly explaining what it is (like the reader is supposed to be already familiar with it). You piece it together as you go through the book, but I think he could learn a bit about communicating the purpose and vision of the idea with clarity and most of all, *brevity*, from Guy Kawasaki. By the end I found it a bit tiring to keep going.
June 4, 2008
This is a good book. It incites the would-be entrepreneur (or the entrepreneur who wants to re-energize his business) to dream big and to analyze the various roles necessary for an entrepreneurial business to be highly successful. Michael Gerber has written many books on business (most notably the E-Myth books), but this one is more focused on his new project, "The Dreaming Room". It's definitely not a step-by-step guide, but it's a must-read for anyone thinking about entrepreneurship. It will force you to think BIG or go home.
January 20, 2015
This was such a disappointing follow-up to Gerber's E-Myth books. Unlike his earlier books this one left very little to sink your teeth into. Just a lot of fluff about his "awakening." Each chapter ends with a "Stop and Focus" section where I'd hoped to gain some practical insights...finally. Nope! Instead I got totally useless pep talks, "The System is already there, my friend!" Ugh. We are definitely not friends Gerber. I'm glad I borrowed this book from the library. I would've been upset if I'd spent money on it.
October 15, 2015
Sometimes timing is everything. I read this book about 10 years ago, and while it was interesting it didn't pack the punch from reading it now. My circumstances have changed: I have more experience. My question is still the same: What are the necessary principles in bringing an excellent startup company into being?
The description of the various players (dreamer, thinker, storyteller, leader) made so much more sense this go around.
The book acknowledges that it does not provide a complete start to finish plan but it certainly provides an interesting framework for thinking.
The description of the various players (dreamer, thinker, storyteller, leader) made so much more sense this go around.
The book acknowledges that it does not provide a complete start to finish plan but it certainly provides an interesting framework for thinking.
August 3, 2008
I really enjoyed this book and it brought together ideas with thoughts I have. There was a portion of it that went a little too long into story telling, which kept me from giving it 5 starts. Overall, I believe anyone with an entrepreneur spirit should read this book prior to jumping too far in. If you've already jumped in than it's definitely time to read it!
December 22, 2009
Good read. very quick and pretty exciting. Seemed a little fluffy to me but maybe that's because this book focused on how to figure out your business idea and I already have mine (at least for now). Gerber's other book, E-Myth Revisited, was amazingly useful for someone who already has a business. Enjoyed it over all though.
June 2, 2011
Michael E Gerber , takes readers on a journey in order to help them realize their dreams and awaken the entrepreneur within them by narrating his own experience .
The books has a passive mood . Users might not feel very excited or motivated with most parts of the book.
However it has some good lessons for entrepreneurs and any one starting or thinking to start a business .
A good read.
The books has a passive mood . Users might not feel very excited or motivated with most parts of the book.
However it has some good lessons for entrepreneurs and any one starting or thinking to start a business .
A good read.
January 7, 2014
It started off good but then in the remaining 60% of the book I wasn't sure if he was teaching me to dream or selling me a dream. I guess this is what happens when you try to milk your cash cow for everything its worth, you claim you've suffered again from this thing you got famous talking about so you can talk about again...
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
April 13, 2012
I really enjoy Michael E Gerber's books. He talks about business in a way that's inspiring and speaks to the highest ethic of commerce.
I wish, however, that Gerber incorporated the business that he outlined as part of the dreaming room throughout the book instead of concluding with it.
I wish, however, that Gerber incorporated the business that he outlined as part of the dreaming room throughout the book instead of concluding with it.
June 29, 2023
Interesting read - a bit too spiritual to my liking, but good enough to make you think that there's an entrepreneur hidden inside of you that is dying to come out, if only you listen to it. Must read for anyone that every thinks about working for themselves.
February 5, 2015
This book is junk. About halfway through the book, I wondered when the author's assiduous advertising would cease. I then thumbed to the back of the book to look at the author's action steps. They were junk as well. I found almost no value in this book at all.
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