Why Most Small Business Don’t Work and What to Do About It

3 Stages of Business and the Corresponding Hats the Owner Has to Wear
1 – Infancy: When the technician is on the frontline. Most businesses are started by these because they are skilled at what they enjoy doing. Supplies output.
2 – Expansion: When management skills are required. Supplies order and systems.
3 – Maturity: Where entrepreneurial skills are required. Supplies vision.

• The aim is to look at your business as a prototype for future franchises.
• Move from working less IN your business and more into ON your business.

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3 Foundational Activities and 7 Business Development Steps
– Foundational activities: 1) Innovation, 2) Quantification, 3) Orchestration
Step 1: Primary aim. What do you want your life to look like when completed? This aim will bring life to your business and business to life.
Step 2: Strategic objective. How much do you want to grow the business, profits, market revenue, sales? What’s your exit strategy? Do you want to grow to national, international, worldwide, UNIVERSAL? How long do you need for each milestone?
Step 3: Organisational strategy. Make sure you have an organisational chart of positions and responsibilities.
Step 4: Management strategy. Your system will be your management strategy so you don’t need to hire highly-skilled, highly compensated managers.
Step 5: People strategy. Let your team know that the customer is not always right but it’s our duty to make them FEEL like they’re always right. Keep the team motivated by developing their skills.
Step 6: Marketing strategy. 2 Pillars of effective marketing are 1) Demographics, 2) Psychographics: what your demographics buy, colour preferences, shape, brands, etc. Give customers freebies in exchange for this information.
Step 7: Systems strategy. 3 types of Systems 1) Hard: inanimate objects like furniture and stationery. 2) Soft: animate objects like ideas, scripts, procedures, people. 3) Information: interaction between hard and soft.

• He doesn’t say it but basically use A/B testing to see which one works better and stay consistent with it. If one sentence worked really well never deviate from it.
• You don’t need to get the best people, even people with the minimum skill level should be able to follow your detailed and organised steps and systems.
• This means having formal, detailed and easy to understand step-by-step guides. The same thing is done the same way every time. This also goes for details like font, colours, uniform, etc.
• Ask questions like: how can I get my team to work without supervision? How can I increase efficiency and consistency?
• Less than 5% of franchises have been terminated annually.

Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction

Part I: The E-Myth and American Small Business
Chapter 1. The Entrepreneurial Myth
Chapter 2. The Entrpreneur, the Manager, and the Technician
Chapter 3. Infancy: The Technician’s Phase
Chapter 4. Adolescence: Getting Some Help
Chapter 5: Beyond the Comfort Zone
Chapter 6: Maturity and the Entrepreneurial Perspective

Part II: The Turn-Key Revolution: A New View of Business
Chapter 7. The Turn-Key Revolution
Chapter 8. The Franchise Prototype
Chapter 9: Working On Your Business, Not In It.

Part III: Building a Small Business That Works!
Chapter 10. The Business Development Process
Chapter 11. Your Business Development Program
Chapter 12. Your Primary Aim
Chapter 13. Your Strategic Objective
Chapter 14: Your Organisational Strategy
Chapter 15: Your Management Strategy
Chapter 16: Your People Strategy
Chapter 17: Your Marketing Strategy
Chapter 18: Your Systems Strategy
Chapter 19: A Letter to Sarah

Epilogue: Brining the Dream Back to American Small Business
Afterword: Taking the First Step
About the Author
Other Books by Michael E. Gerber
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher