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

by Michael E. Gerber

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse,”

“What do the owners of extraordinary businesses know that the rest don’t?” Contrary to popular belief, my experience has shown me that the people who are exceptionally good in business aren’t so because of what they know but because of their insatiable need to know more.

Curious ty.

The greatest businesspeople I’ve met are determined to get it right no matter what the cost. And by getting it right, I’m not just talking about the business. I mean that there is something uplifting, some vision, some higher end in sight that “getting it right” would serve. An ethical certainty, a moral principle, a universal truth.

On the other hand, notwithstanding the search for “something higher,” the best of the best I have known are extraordinarily grounded people; they are compulsive about detail, pragmatic, down-to-earth, in touch with the seamy reality of ordinary life.

Those mundane and tedious little things that, when done exactly right, with the right kind of attention and intention, form in their aggregate a distinctive essence, an evanescent quality that distinguishes every great business you’ve ever done business with from its more mediocre counterparts whose owners are satisfied to simply get through the day.

Yes, the simple truth about the greatest businesspeople I have known is that they have a genuine fascination for the truly astonishing impact little things done exactly right can have on the world.

This book is a guide for those who see the development of an extraordinary business as a never-ending inquiry, an ongoing investigation, an active engagement with a world of forces, within us and without, that continually amaze and confound the true seekers among us with awesome variety, unending surprises, and untold complexity.

While it may seem obvious, this fascination with the development of an extraordinary business is not the same as a fascination with success. Certainly not the success we normally think of. Some end point which, having reached it, enables one to say, “I did it!” Because my experience has taught me only too well that end points in the development of an extraordinary business are instantly replaced by beginning points.

believe that our business can provide us with a mirror to see ourselves as we are, to see what we truly know and what we don’t know, to see ourselves honestly, directly, and immediately.

And what we have also discovered is that the people who own small businesses in this country work far more than they should for the return they’re getting. Indeed, the problem is not that the owners of small businesses in this country don’t work; the problem is that they’re doing the wrong work.

Why do so many people go into business, only to fail? What lesson aren’t they learning? Why is it that with all the information available today on how to be successful in small business, so few people really are? This book answers those questions.

IDEA #1 There is a myth in this country—I call it the E-Myth—which says that small businesses are started by entrepreneurs risking capital to make a profit. This is simply not so. The real reasons people start businesses have little to do with entrepreneurship. In fact, this belief in the Entrepreneurial Myth is the most important factor in the devastating rate of small business failure today. Understanding the E-Myth, and applying that understanding to the creation and development of a small business, can be the secret to any business’s success.

IDEA #2 There’s a revolution going on today in American small business. I call it the Turn-Key Revolution. Not only is it changing the way we do business in this country and throughout the world but it is changing who goes into business, how they do it, and the likelihood of their survival.

IDEA #3 At the heart of the Turn-Key Revolution is a dynamic process we at E-Myth Worldwide call the Business Development Process. When it is systematized and applied purposely by a small business owner, the Business Development Process has the power to transform any small business into an incredibly effective organization. Our experience has shown us that when a small business incorporates this p...

IDEA #4 The Business Development Process can be systematically applied by any small business owner in a step-by-step method that incorporates the lessons of the Turn-Key Revolution into the operation of that business. This process then becomes a predictable way to produce results and vitality in any small business whose owner is willing to give it the time and attention it requires to flourish.

And, while the process is no “magic bullet” and does require hard work, it is always gratifying work and the only work I know that will give you the level of control you need to get what you want from your small business. Indeed, it will change your business and it will change your life. This book, then, is about producing results—not simply “how to do it.” Because both of us know that books like that don’t work. People do.

And what makes people work is an idea worth working for, along with a clear understanding of what needs to be done. It is only when such an idea becomes firmly integrated into the way you think and operate your business that “how to do it” becomes meaningful.

Yessss!

If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employees will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more. If your information about what needs to be done in your business is limited, your business will reflect that limitation.

The first change that needs to take place has to do with your idea of what a business really is and what it takes to make one work. Once you fully understand the relationship every owner must have with his or her business if it is to work, I can assure you that your business and your life will take on new vitality and new meaning.