E Myths Review

Book review: The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

I am a reader. I love books. Especially fiction. As far back as I can remember I’ve been telling people that I like to learn about history through historical fiction. Unfortunately, the storytelling in this book fell flat for me. The author used the story of his “conversations” with a struggling small business owner to illustrate his points. I apologize in advance to the friend who recommended this book, but I did not enjoy the writing.

Still, once I figured out that I could just skim past the “conversations” the benevolent author had with the hapless businesswoman, and just read for business insight, I did glean some useful information. There are three takeaways I received from reading this book. The first is the importance of having a well-developed business plan. Mr. Gerber’s Business Development Program requires a business owner to develop a plan that includes seven steps: a Primary Aim, a Strategic Objective, an Organizational Strategy, a Management Strategy, a People Strategy, a Marketing Strategy, and a Systems Strategy.

Secondly, I like his points about living fully versus living by accident, and that “great people create their lives actively.” I am a mindfulness practitioner, and this is a perfect example of mindfulness.

The third insight I gained from “The E Myth Revisited” is that a business owner’s primary job is to work on the business, not in the business. So many self-employed people fail to realize this and think that being their own employee is what it’s all about. So now, every day I ask myself, “How am I going to work on my business today?” This relates well to a person in a job search, too. If job seekers see their primary job as working on their job search and not just to get a job, they will make more focused and effective decisions.

This book was apparently voted “#1 business book by Inc. 500 CEOs” (back cover proclamation) and the author is the “World’s #1 Small Business Guru” (front cover proclamation). Maybe in the business world, but he won’t win any prizes for his literary prowess.