Table of Contents
The E-Myth Revisited points out that the biggest problem in business is when people try to defend what they think they know instead of trying to find out what they don’t know. A lot of business people don’t have enough knowledge in marketing, management, accounting, etc.. But that isn’t their biggest crutch, it’s thinking that they already have all the answers they need that makes their business more fragile.
“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him.” – Tolstoy
The Three Parts of a Team
There are three parts of every team, and three parts of every individual when starting a business: the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician. This can even apply to a team of one person. If you’re the only person running your business, then you’re going to need to assume the responsibility of those three parts.
If you don’t develop out of the technician mindset, you will never be able to have a rich life outside your business. You will be working “in” your business instead of “on” it. When you fail to delegate and manage from a distance, you don’t have a business, what you have is actually a job.
It’s important to know whether you’re starting a business for reasons of greed, or reasons that transcend that. If you’re starting a business to just get paid more for what you’re already doing and get more free time, it’s not a business you want a start, it’s a promotion you want to get. If, on the other hand, you want to create jobs for others, create unique value, build something personally meaningful, then you can start thinking about building a business.
When delegating work, blind trust is the enemy to be aware of. It’s important to understand who you can trust and what you can trust them with. That requires a solid understanding of people in general, and especially the people you choose to work with.
Any plan is better than no plan – the process of planning is what’s important.
The technician thinks of a product as just another part of a business. The entrepreneur sees the product as the business itself. The system isn’t something you bring to the business. It ‘s something you derive from the process of building the business. The success of McDonald’s and other franchise businesses, as opposed to independent businesses, is in the stage of building the prototype. Once a precise model is finally found, it becomes possible to standardize the process and repeat it successfully under different conditions.
Importance of Consistency
A salesman once told me, “In business It’s better to do something okay consistently than to do something great inconsistently”
Key Questions
- How can I get my business to work, but without me?
- How can I get my people to work, but without my constant interference?
- How can I systematize my business in such a way that it could be replicated 5000 times, so the 5000th unit would run as smoothly as the first?
- How can I own my business, and still be free of it?
- How can I spend my time doing the work I love to do rather than the work I have to do?
- Does the business you want to get in fulfill your financial objective?
What business are you in?
It’s not the commodity, it’s the feeling you create in your customers.Is your business trying to make people feel safe? Excited? Smart? Beautiful?
Who is my customer?
Customer demographics and psychographics are important to knowing your customer. You should have a specific customer profile in mind: How old are they? Are they male or female? How do they think?
Organizational structure:
When you partner with anyone in business, you automatically plant the seeds of chaos into your life. If you don’t determine who’s responsible for what, that chaos will become overwhelming and your business will implode. Understanding who’s responsible for what isn’t easy.
Evaluation
It felt like a story that was dragging out for too long. The book makes some interesting points, but the delivery is slow – and after a while – becomes uninteresting. Too much time is taken to make simple points.
- Durability (I Will Read This Again): 7/10
- Originality (This Taught Me Something New): 6/10
- Experience (This Was Enjoyable to Read): 7/10
- Efficiency (This Was Concise): 7/10
- Shareability (I Will Recommend This Book to My Friends): 6/10
UW Score: 66/10
A book that contains important lessons for entrepreneurs, but has some flaws.
If you’re an entrepreneur and you want a quick guide to know what to think about before launching you business, check out The Myth of Entrepreneurship.