The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

by Michael E. Gerber

“How will my business look to the customer?” The Entrepreneur asks. “How will my business stand out from all the rest?” Thus, the Entrepreneurial Model does not start with a picture of the business to be created but of the customer for whom the business is to be created. It understands that without a clear picture of that customer, no business can succeed. The Technician, on the other hand, looks inwardly, to define his skills, and only looks outwardly afterward to ask, “How can I sell them?” The resulting business almost inevitably focuses on the thing it sells rather than the way the business goes about it or the customer to whom it’s to be sold. Such a business is designed to satisfy The Technician who created it, not the customer. To The Entrepreneur, the business is the product. To The Technician, the product is what he delivers to the customer. To The Technician, the customer is always a problem. Because the customer never seems to want what The Technician has to offer at the price at which he offers it. To The Entrepreneur, however, the customer is always an opportunity. Because The Entrepreneur knows that within the customer is a continuing parade of changing wants begging to be satisfied. All The Entrepreneur has to do is find out what those wants are and what they will be in the future. As a result, the world is a continuing surprise, a treasure hunt to The Entrepreneur. To The Technician, however, the world is a place that never seems to let him do what he wants...