E-myth Revisited

[Ankesh]

I recently read E-Myth Revisited because so many sowpubbers recommend it. And was very dissappointed!

I thought it was very fluffy - and lacked the nuts and bolts - the details that tell you what to do and how to do it.

(The book was more about what to do and why to do it. Not much how to in it...)

Is there some other book or resource you would recommend for:

* hiring people and outsourcing work
* transitioning from you doing the work to your employee doing the work
* creating operations manuals
* growing and managing the internal structure of your co.

(I don't want to know why you should do all those things. I want to know how to do those things better...)

Would love to hear personal anecdotes too...

Hi, Ankesh,

There's a book by Harvey MacKay, of envelope fame, about how he eventually wound up in that particular business. I found it very instructive in the ways in which circumstances and opportunities evolve into businesses. He delves into the how-to of making things happen to open doors and develop a business...and how/when to make course corrections. Now if I could only recall the name of the book! I'm sure if you looked up Harvey MacKay, you'd find it. I'd do it but my computer isn't cooperating totally these days.

Managing a business is all about managing and developing people. Period. The rest of the activities can be farmed out, for the most part, but managing people will be your most critical duty as a business owner/manager. Any skill you can develop to deal with various personalities, teaching and training of various types of learners, and group dynamics will stand you in good stead.

A personal example of people development. I had an assistant who was a whiz on computers and with inventory but couldn't seem to sell the large ticket items. After observing her for several days, I saw the problem. She didn't know the products and how to demonstrate them to the customer. She could recite all the points of the product like you'd find in a brochure but couldn't relate them to the customer.

I planned a time where it'd be just the two of us in the store and put her through some show and tell. She balked and resisted, said she felt silly, but I insisted. Eventually she got to the point where she could do the demo with me playing the part of various customer types and so on.

About a month after all that she came to me and told me how much it had helped her. Later I had her assist others to learn what she'd been taught. Brought the team closer together and increased sales figures by more than double in just a couple of months. It pays to spend time developing your employees.

Lots more I could share but I'd have to write a book.

Sandi Bowman

Was it... "How to swim with the Sharks without being eaten alive?" by Harvey Mackay?

Hey Ankesh,

I agree that the E-myth Revisited lacked the nuts and bolts and all the how-to stuff and was filled with a lot of fluff.

BUT - I also think that better fluff has never been written for the small business guy.

As simple as the concept of systemizing may sound, it's something that a majority of small business owners never think too much about. Lack of systemizing is also the reason most businesses fail IMO.

If it's a concept that you already understand, I would agree that it's something you don't really need to read.

For me, it came at a point where I really needed it and it totally changed my way of thinking. I'd never really considered doing things that way before. It was all a new concept to me and written in a way that it was really easy to follow and understand.

I would go as far as saying that it was life-changing for me because it was something I NEEDED to understand.

I'd say that it was the single-most important book I've ever read and that no other knowledge I've gained and implemented from any other book turned into in results even close.

The other book by Michael Gerber "E-myth Mastery"I wouldn't recommend - it was a tough read and hard to follow. Not any real how-to stuff either.

Their free training really helped me out a lot but might be too basic for what you are looking for.

There's some more advanced stuff at the Emyth website that looks promising but I haven't used any of it so I can't give an honest opinion but might be something to check out.

Jim

It well could've been "Swim with the sharks without being eaten alive" because I recall reading that book a long time ago. Thanks for the memory jogger.

Sandi Bowman

Although the "E-myth Revisited" fell short on the how to do aspect, for me there was an important nugget of understanding that clarified a misunderstanding about going into business for one's self.

It's the "technition" term I'm referring to.

According to the book, a "technition" is real good at their craft - like a woman who bakes the best blueberry pies ever (or enter any other product that's the "best ever").

Raves about the product are never-ending accompanied by "Wow, this is so good, you should go into this business".

They're good at creating a great product, but have no business skills whatsoever. Many "technitions" who rely solely on the product may fail due to failure to effectively operate the business.

This can also be applied to why MLM's rarely succeed. Just because you know people, doesn't mean they would be good at developing their own income - nor would most want to.

The true entrepreneur knows all that's involved, what needs to be done and is willing to do so. You don't even need to be the creator of the "best product ever" - just market it better than the competiton.

Lawrence

You can get all the information from email if you even buy his tapes.

But there is only really four steps for any business

Find a huge market
Find a product and or a service for this huge market
Find a sales system to Reach this market
Find Back up Products and or services for this market.


The hardest for anyone is the sales system. Yes there are many ways to reach a market but it takes money don't think you can do it all for free, you can't

[Ankesh]

Thanks Joe.

But I'm not looking for info on how to grow my biz... but looking for how to structure my biz so that it grows without me.

Originally Posted by Ankesh

Thanks Joe.

But I'm not looking for info on how to grow my biz... but looking for how to structure my biz so that it grows without me.

Hey Ankesh.

I think the reason that there's not much written on this is because there's no one-size-fit-s all "system" that can really be written about and duplicated.

Each business is unique and needs to do things in different ways. There are concepts behind developing systems that should probably be written about. I've even attempted to write about it before but even the concepts are difficult to put on paper.

You mentioned something that I think is really important.......

There's a huge difference between building something that 'runs" without you and something that "grows" without you.

Building something that "runs" without you can sometimes be as simple as hiring someone that can do things as good as yourself and walking away.

Growth is a whole other issue and a far more important one.

A few ways I do things......

Out of over a dozen employees now in my cabinet shop, only two of them are paid hourly. That would be the two office gals.

Everyone else's pay is incentive based.

My manager, for example is paid minimum wage as his base salary plus a variety of bonuses including....

bonus on total monthly sales
bonus on total monthly profit
bonus for growth over last month
bonus for growth over last year (for same month)
and a few others

His minimum wage job paid him $165K last year

The guys in the shop are paid on piece work meaning that they are paid a specific amount per job.

They can make as low as $400 per week or as much as $1500 per week depending on how fast they work.

Installers - same thing. They are paid a commission. The faster they get things done, the more they make.

On top of that, both the shop guys and the installers are paid an "on-time" bonus, meaning that when a job is sent to the shop, there is a deadline (usually a week before the scheduled install date) that in must be completed by. Their pay can go up or down depending on when they complete the job. The installer also has a timeframe that the job has to be completed in.

A lot of good things happen when you set something like this up. While they all have schedules, we pretty much let them do as they want. If they need to come in a couple hours late or leave a couple hours early it's never a problem. They know what needs to get done and what they need to make.

They control their own paychecks. (and they all want to make a lot!)

The more they make - the more I make

Our salespeople/designers are all paid on commission. They have a set commission for any jobs they sell that we provide the leads for.

They also have a huge incentive to get their own leads - an extra 2% commission. Doesn't sound like much but when the jobs they sell are usually in the 10-30K range, it really adds up and gives them a reason to grow my business.

I should note that we only deal with contractors so once they've got them signed up, that extra 2% is theirs for as long as they stay with us, even if that contractor calls us directly instead of them.

So, there in a nutshell is my secret to "growth"

Give employees a reason to grow your business, make them want to come into work, and reward them handsomly for it.

Now, with all that said, there is still the issue of systemizing.

None of that stuff can happen without systems running in the background to hold it all together and make the entire process streamlined and efficient for everybody involved.

What kind of business are you trying to build?

If you want to share the details here, it might be fun for everyone here to put our heads together and come up with systems that will work for you.

If not, email me privately and I'll take a crack at it.

Jim

Even if you have a shopping Cart on the net you need a system and someone running it. Nothing runs completely by itself. Someone has to write copy product the product etc. You can outsource all this, what you can't do. But you need people for things. You or someone else.