E-Myth Revisited: Timeless Lessons for Entrepreneurs

This review may not necessarily be for those who are considering reading E-Myth Revisited. To those, I would suggest – Just do it.

Is the book exceptional?

For it’s intended purpose, it is more than exceptional.

This book is ideal for its main audience – the heart-driven entrepreneur who cannot find the reason behind the dramatic contrast between their driving passion to create and seek independent fulfilment…and the teeth-grinding, torturous reality of most of the building period of starting a business.

In the words of Synne Linden, E-Myth is “Story telling at its finest.”

If you happen to have listened to it as an audio book, it is evident that it resonates with so many because we immediately relate Michael Gerber to ‘the voice of the wise’ in childhood cartoons and fairy tales – comforting and insightful, having lived this journey many times before.

It is likely that you have been advised to read the book at the stage of your start-up becoming more than a little all-consuming. An early line of the book is the epitome of ‘knowing your ideal client’s pain points’, and reads,

“The work that was born out of love, becomes a chore, among a welter of less familiar and less pleasant chores.“

We are introduced to the ‘Technician’ – desperate to be free of restriction and ‘a boss’, knowing they’re excellent at what they do and, for some, wanting to serve others and create impact on a greater scale.

“So, he takes the work he loves and turns it into a job.”

Being introduced to the concept of The Entrepreneurial Seizure’ (suffered by the Technician) was a significant moment for pause.

Confronted by the reality that I, too, may have created my business off of the back of decades of being ‘battered about’ by bad roles and bad bosses; unfulfilled so attaching my hopes of finding purpose and building my own little kingdom and legacy to meet our intrinsic need to be needed…

In hindsight, it is vital that every prospective entrepreneur, start-up founder and established business owner ask and answer this question of themselves, regularly.

Not only does it draws our focus out of the day-to-day chaos, disappointments and frustrations, but it redefines our intentions. It sets the tone for our team and brings perspective back into play.

Michael Gerber has an excellent way with words and, regardless of whether you love or hate the way he has woven his and Sarah’s stories into an adventure in entrepreneurship, he weaves the emotions we all know well, beautifully, into the text.

• Exhilaration

• Terror

• Exhaustion

• Despair

When we ‘meet’ Sarah, it’s at the point of her despair - “the loss of what was closest to them, purpose and self.”

Personally, at the point I listened to Sarah’s introduction, I believed even she was far beyond where I hoped to reach. Yet now, years later, I hear the same script from business owners long established, as well as from the start-up entrepreneurs.

In my opinion, it’s the ‘tape’ we continue to play throughout our lives.

The victors are not those who ‘graduate’ but rather those who learn the techniques to consistently reinforce their progress, strategise the future and celebrate their present.

‘Knowing your vision’ may be a cliché statement in this decade, but it really is a fundamental force in the fight for business survival.

The second vital component – your support team. Here, I don’t mean your staff. I mean those who know the essence of why your business exists and of why you continue to push it forward. The facts are, without them, you absolutely will fail.

For many, you will have begun your first business, alone. For others, you may have had a partner who walked away at the first hurdle. Perhaps you realised your intentions for beginning were too different to find a way forward.

Very few of us begin with a support network ‘rooting for us’ from Day One onwards. In fact, I would go as far as to say that those that DO, are those that excel and flourish rapidly.

The reality of this need became a significant factor in how I wanted my own business to be perceived.

Regardless of the services offered, the marketing pizzazz, or even the expertise my team and I brought to the table, I needed my clients to know that they were heard; that their vision was important to us and that we, as a team could and would keep it in the forefront of any plan of action, project and minimal task.

Sarah feels seen, in all her flaws and falliables, but not judged.

As cringey as some see it, relaying Sarah’s emotional response to Michael Gerber’s reflection of her journey, is meant to signify the formation of her platform for progress.

In knowing that she has permission to acknowledge her faults and realise they are shared by many before her, she steps out of her isolation.

In hearing that she can once again invite her ‘immature’ motivations back into the core of her business but build them in in a way that establishes resilient practices and structure around them, she encounters a sense of relief and renewed energy.

Isn’t that what we all want but often lose, within the leadership roles of our organisations?

I propose that a close number of peers and mentors are as important to our entrepreneurial survival and success than any amount of funding.

I was reminded of the group of such peers that surrounded J.R.R. Tolkien at a particularly difficult time in his own authorship journey. ‘The Inklings’ were like-minded friends that were well-acquainted with each other’s endeavours, weaknesses, strengths and ‘dreams’.

When Tolkien believed his attempt to finish his ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series doomed to failure, his support network did not pat him on the head and suggest a bubble-bath. Instead, they reminded him to put every activity in our lives into perspective.

Individually, we each carry exquisite value, unboundaried potential and, in my opinion, a purpose that only we can steal from ourselves. Tolkien’s group reminded him that what he had to offer added to the story of not just his own life, but that of generations to come and, if you like, eternity.

I saw both Michael and Sarah’s journey in that way. Individually, our efforts are no more important that millions before and after us…but we have been built to create and in that, serve our neighbours and our generations. Some will influence even more.

As the book continues, we realise that battling inside us are not one but three contrasting ‘personalities’.

The Technician, Entrepreneur and Manager all want to BE the boss, but not have a boss. They all make promises to customers with the intention of the others turning up to fulfil said promises.

During the infancy stage, when most entrepreneurs are doing it all alone, one of the three – usually the technician, takes over, and the dream becomes a 14hr/day hell.

And then the startling realisation for any business owner, at any stage…

“Your business is nothing more than a distinct reflection of yourself.”

“In a flash, you realise, your business has become the boss you thought you left behind.

Infancy ends when… the owner realises the business is going to have to change.”

This is usually when most businesses fail and close their doors…or, as is more fashionably the case in more recent years…, we 'pivot'. The challenge to untangle the mess you’ve created that is drowning you and crushing all hopes of an income, nevermind a legacy, can seem overwhelming.

We confront our three ‘personalities’.

• The Technician just wants to lock themselves away and ‘do the work’.

• The Entrepreneur needs to be free to dream and play out those dreams and ideas.

• The Manager is frustrated by the distracted Entrepreneur and – following the burn out stage of infancy – find themselves in the ‘Management by abdication, rather than by delegation’ stage; happy to yell orders but really just not do anymore.

They convince themselves that their new staff are WONDERFUL, and you don’t have to worry about them at all!

- This leads to losing grip of the functioning day-to-day; standards, etc.

- This then leads to micromanaging when things start to slip.

It was at this point that I think I chose to stop writing notes and instead hear just how Michael Gerber believes we dig ourselves out of every entrepreneurs dilemma.

Inevitably, his method is one that works and won him the acclaim of thousands.

His examples of businesses that succeeded through following the ‘franchise’ model, are indisputable. In fact, I would go as far as to say, unlessyou form your business in this manner, you are unlikely to grow beyond a small family venture that provides an income for you and a couple of others.

For clarity, by ‘franchise model’ we’re talking about clear structure, defined responsibilities, processes designed for simple replication, and marketing that employs psychological intelligence, etc.

In the UK, I would say this makes up the majority of freelancers, 'solopreneurs' and 'micro business owners.'

There is no sin in remaining the Technician who allows visits from the Manager on occasion! It is the foundation of thousands of years of self-sustaining homesteads and villages and communities throughout our history as humans! We do not all need to grow organisations that change the face of enterprise or of our industry.

However, for those who have a burning desire to impact lives, or a God-given need to bring hope through endeavours that multiply and leave a legacy for their children’s children, this is the model to follow.

Amongst others, I would say, Michael Gerber’s ‘E-Myth Revisited’ went a long way to establishing the tone for my own business:

• Helping to define those whom we would serve both internally and externally – others on their road to establish more than ‘a nice idea’ and determined to call their own shots.

• Establishing clear methods, routines and processes to ensure that sustainability was not simply reliant on our individual energy, knowledge and presence, instead, empowering others to know achievement following tried and tested business techniques in a welcoming, encouraging environment.

• Permission to acknowledge the conflict between the Technician, the Manager and the Entrepreneur and where our business would ‘fill the gap’ for those who had achieved enough success to be able to choose which of the roles they naturally were more inclined to embrace.