Nelson Notes: The E Myth (Revisited)

Nelson Notes: The E Myth (Revisited)

 My Interview with Michael E. Gerber

Welcome to my notebook, where I share my highlights from the books I read and notes I take. I feature only the books I’ve actually read and that I recommend as worth your while to read and grow from. Givers gain, so I’m sharing the good stuff, that it may impact and improve your life in some way. These are all quotes and excerpts from the author except where *noted.

Revisiting The E-Myth Revisited, I’ve read this book three times so far!

Defining moments are sometimes unclear; when was that exact point where your career changed, your success changed, your health, your luck, your life? It may be a big definable event or it may have happened gradually and the moment or even cause is less detectable. I have both experiences in my life, some that stand out as turning points or pivot points; others were slow drift and foggy memories about the details of the change. Fortunately for me, I can always say without a doubt, the book that changed my life and opened my eyes to how being a successful entrepreneur must be achieved is crystal clear: In May of 1996 I read Michael E. Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited and I was never the same (for to remain the same would both shame the book and waste the wisdom that it offers every reader to gather from each of it’s “ah-ha moment” pages).

The E-Myth spells it out right away, the two types of business people; so based on those two, I claim there are two readers of this book:

1. People who succeed in business that possess an insatiable need to know more, they are students of life and business and are willing to learn, change and take action.
2. People who think they know enough already, defend what they know and never seek out more. The more is typically what they need to know and neglect for fear of change, for lack of curiosity or humility.

Michael share that to survive in business, we need to know what to do in every situation. This means we need to both be constantly improving our own skills while surrounding ourselves with other people’s skills that supplement our present weaknesses.

The fatal mistake most business owners make is they understand and are skilled at the technical work of their job, so they assume they understand and can run a business doing the technical work. Unfortunately there’s a huge difference between the works of a business versus the business that does technical work. You need more than technical skills; you need to be all three of the following:

1. To be an Entrepreneur (visionary, dreamer, lives in the future).
2. To be a Manager (pragmatic, maintains order, lives in the past).
3. To be a Technician (The Doer, tinkers/controls work flow, lives in the present).

KEY QUESTIONS:

• “Do you own a business or do you own a job?”

(A business grows whether you are there or not. A job stops growing if you stop going).

• “How can I do this differently? How can I change my experience with this business?”
• “What does this business need?” (Not “what does this owner want?”).
• “Where do I wish to be and when do I want to get there?”
• “How much capital will I need to get there?”
• “What & how many people and resources will it take?”
• “What technology & tools are required?”
• “How big a facility or office is needed?

You’re business is not your life. You need a plan, systems and boundaries for each. Any plan is better than no plan!

“To become a great company, you have to act like a great company now, before it becomes one.” The “act as if” mentality prepares you for the opportunity.

Your business needs to be systems dependent, not people dependent. The systems run the business, the people run the systems. Document all the work needed to be accomplished in each department and create your User Manuals from this.

• Your systems need to run without you there.
• Your people need to be able to work without you there.
• Your customers need to have the same experience no matter who serves them.
• You need to own a business that you are free of. You run it, it doesn’t run you.
• Set up properly, you’ll only spend time doing the work you love vs. have to do.
• So your systems need to be systems of “the best way to do this” and provide a consistent “best customer experience.”

“People by feelings” They purchase emotionally and justify rationally, afterwords. So ask yourself: “What feeling do my customers walk away with?”

You and your employees need to believe enough in the company’s vision to live it yourselves. If you walk the talk and your customers will buy in.

Is this a special place to do business? Are there special people doing what they do in the best possible way? “The work we do here is a reflection of who we are. How we do our work here is how we are inside. Work is passive until someone does it. The work can only be as good as the person doing is inside.”

“The world is not in chaos, we are. The world reflects us.”

#beyondtheemyth

I have paraphrased some of my favorite takeaways from

Michael E. Gerber’s E-Myth Revisited, the book that truly launched my career as a true entrepreneur. I consider this mandatory reading if you own a business or plan to start one; it’s the business bible that will help you open with the potential success or if already in business, improve upon what you already do. I went on to coach under Michael E. Gerber from 1996-1998 after taking him up on the offer printed in the back of the book. Enjoy your journey!

Please check out Michael E. Gerber’s new book: Beyond The E-Myth, scheduled to release 12/07/2016 and you can hear more about it on our Mail-Right Real Estate Agent Podcast #72, where we interview Michael about this book!