The E Myth Revisited Why Most Small Businesses Dont Work and What to Do About It

The E Myth Revisited Why Most Small Businesses Dont Work and What to Do About It

“Gerber loves to exhort people to develop powerful visions for theircompanies.” — Fortune

“Thanks to Gerber l have freed up over three hours a day, significantly increased my sales, more than doubled my bottom line, and been able to take my first vacation in four years.” — Trish Lind, T. Lind Graphics, St. Paul, Minnesota

“Without a doubt, the most important message for our company over thenext decade.” — The John Hancock Insurance Group

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A Start Ups must read…
This is a book that should be read by anyone starting up a small business or has a small business and cannot understand why it is not living up to its full potential. The beauty of this book is that, not only does it provide theory, but it provides actionable steps, the “how-to’s” if you will, needed for someone to take action, while doing it in a manner that is also enjoyable; Non-textbook.

If you read this book and don’t at least try to make a change in your business, than you probably shouldn’t be in business.

5 Stars If you want to know why…
your small business is failing, and are ready to take steps to turn it around, this is the read for you. Take the recommended action, and you will see results.

Susan Bock

Creating Your Map to Business Success with GPS(tm)

Executive Coaching and Business Consulting for Entrepreneurial Women

www.SusanBockSolutions.com

2 Stars Mostly junk w/ a few good points
Ok, for one, I listened to the audio version of this book which is unabridged. Here’s my breakdown of the pros and cons of this book :

Pros :

- Creates a few good terms for clarifying roles in business such as Technician, Manager, and Entrepreneur.

- Franchise model is a natural evolutionary step for many businesses

Cons :

- Author is condescending like a authoritative parent-figure who “knows what’s right for you better than you ever could” throughout the book though this tapers off somewhat towards the end.

- Author makes the mistake of assuming *all* businesses naturally are improved via the franchise model, which is frankly, stupid. This does not work for many business types such as software or game development. Book also prioritizes quantity over quality in the franchise model, despite claims made in the book that quality should not be skimped on (this is mentioned in relation to McDonalds where they say the quality of the burger is consistent throughout the various actual restaurant which is true, but this does not make it healthy or detriment the overall low-quality of the meat and ingredients involved in creation of said burger).

- Furthermore, the title is “…Why Most *Small* Businesses Don’t Work…”. Basically, from what the author says, the reason they don’t work is simply because they are not *big* business, or IE - Franchises. This is a bit of a paradox and obviously underpins the authors own preconceived ideas about how to run *big* businesses. Franchises have their own pros and cons too, which I will leave out of this review. The author should write a book with the title “…Why Most Big Businesses Don’t Work…” and review how to turn franchises into mom and pop stores so both sides of the fence are covered.

- The book states things so obvious in business as to be truisms. Seriously, if you did not know 90% of what this book states to you, you should question whether you should be in business at all. Anyone with half a brain can take a look at McDonalds and see the points the author makes with just 10 minutes worth of critical thinking.

- The stories in this book are cutesy, silly, and are supposed to illustrate points, but come across as shallow, authoritative, dictator-worthy versions of how “well-versed” the author is in the realm of business. I’m willing to bet that the author has made more money off this book than he ever has in actual business. To add insult to injury on this point, the morals of these stories banal and weak, and don’t add signifigantly to the book. This text/speech would have been much better used citing actual examples in business (he cited 3 : McDonalds, IBM, and Fedex, though the last 2 only briefly) rather than the lame story he beats like a dead horse throughout the book, and also simply stating his points directly and illustrating why with the actual business examples.

My overall sense of this book is that the content is far far overrated. For someone to recommend this book, they would have to veritably clueless in the realm of business. I am no business mogul but I can safely say that the information in this book is pretty evident to anyone who asks themselves “why ___ business has suceeded and how they did it”. Basic critical thinking skills (perhaps this is just a sign of the times we live in that people think they actually need books like this).

The good points of this book you can walk away with without reading it are :

- Use your small business as a prototype of the “stamp” of the large business and when successful, stamp it out en-masse until it becomes a full-blown franchise.

- Presentation is important (This is my advice : don’t overblow this. “All style and no substance” is not an admirable business goal.)

- Recognize the business’s need for growth or you’ll have growing pains.

- Have a plan for growth and for each position’s role and responsibility. Clarify it right down to a “here’s how you do it step-by-step” level. Create book where all these plans are listed together for future reference and training of new employees.

At this point, you no longer need to read this book. Just go study businesses and ask yourself a lot of questions (how, what, why, where, who). Then ask these questions to people you know. Believe me, that will put you way ahead of anything this book can provide. Best of succe$$ to you.

5 Stars Important Mindset for Most Business Owners…
This is a really phenomenal book. The concepts are not so overly intellectual that you are smacking yourself on the forehead - yet, like so many ‘truths’ they hit you like ‘I know that’ but in fact, you really didn’t or you would have been doing it… =}

What I especially like about this book is that it gives a few diamonds of action that the reader can immediately put to use in their business, I absolutely loved the concept of creating a from the end in mind Org Chart. This has proven to be invaluable for our organization.

The only criticism I may have is that most people who are going to be reading this book have precious little time to dedicate to any one book and it’s a little verbose…

But the content is crucial, especially for anyone leaving the work force who is planning on starting their own business. Read this first. Highly recommended.

5 Stars Great read and excelent information for a Small Buisness Owner
I am in the process of starting a small home computer repair company (TrueBlueCS.com) and read this book to get some ideas being a first time business owner. I really don’t read a lot of books (lots of magazines, blogs and online articles) but this book was an easy read and kept me wanting to read on.

If you own a business or are thinking about starting/ buying a business I would say this is a must read.

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