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

by Michael E. Gerber

That Fatal Assumption is: if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work.

Suddenly the job he knew how to do so well becomes one job he knows how to do plus a dozen others he doesn’t know how to do at

Entrepreneurial Seizure experiences exactly the same thing. First, exhilaration; second, terror; third, exhaustion; and, finally, despair. A terrible sense of loss—not

“After all that work? After all that sweat and effort? And then—nothing? It isn’t fair.”

Well, that’s the kind of war going on inside the owner of every small business. But it’s a three-way battle between The Entrepreneur, The Manager, and The Technician. Unfortunately, it’s a battle no one can win. Understanding the differences between them will quickly explain why.

The Manager is the one who runs after The Entrepreneur to clean up the mess. Without The Entrepreneur there would be no mess to clean up.

The Technician is the doer.

The Entrepreneur is always creating new and interesting work for The Technician to do,