The E-Myth Revisited

The E-Myth Revisited

Michael E. Gerber

📅 Finished on: 2023-10-01

💼 Work
⭐️⭐️

Running a business is complicated and very hard; you have to manage the Entrepreneur, Manager, and Technician. A nod to franchising: the idea is what gets transmitted to rise above the crowd, not the product itself.

From an HN thread on life-changing books, this is supposed to be important for learning.

I did not like it at all. It has a couple of interesting ideas, but the prose is grating (a dialogue with a woman who runs a home-baked cake business), with lots of punchy one-liners stacked one after another. There is no continuity; it all feels vague and repetitive, extremely dull. I pulled out a few useful points and it is worth it for that, but I initially gave it 1 star. Still useful if I ever decide to start a business.

Notes

🔑 do not do it. The picture Gerber paints of startups and entrepreneurs is tough, especially if you do what you love and decide to open a business. You have to learn to do a lot more (the books, the numbers, taxes, clients, sales) and not just what you are good at or interested in! Another interesting point is that we have 3 roles: Entrepreneur, Manager, and Technician. We have to manage all three or we risk getting bogged down; none of them should take over.

He also praises McDonald’s franchising, where the idea of an assembly line for burgers is what spread, not quality or the food.

So not much. Long live franchising (preferably with replaceable roles so you do not risk problems), stay curious, define a program/checklist for all your projects, and ask his company for consulting.

Other key points taken from https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/business/the-e-myth-revisited/

  1. Most small business owners work in their business rather than on their business.
  2. People who are exceptionally good in business are so because of their insatiable need to know more.
  3. Understanding the technical work of a business does not mean you understand a business that does that technical work.
  4. “If you are unwilling to change, your business will never be capable of giving you what you want.”
  5. That Fatal Assumption: if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work.
  6. The Entrepreneurial Seizure occurs the moment you decide it would be a great idea to start your own business.
  7. “Everybody who goes into business is actually three-people-in-one: The Entrepreneur, The Manager, and The Technician.”
  8. We all have an Entrepreneur, Manager, and Technician inside us.
← Back to all books