The E-myth Revisited

What are the big ideas?

1. The Business Development Process as a Metaphor for Personal Transformation: This book uniquely presents the Business Development Process as a metaphor for personal transformation. By viewing one's business as a prototype for growth and innovation, individuals can use the process to not only develop their business but also grow personally and fulfill their deeper purpose.
2. The Importance of an Integrated View of Business: This book emphasizes the importance of integrating all aspects of a business - management, people, and systems - to create consistent results and differentiate from competitors. Through this holistic approach, entrepreneurs can ensure that their business aligns with their strategic objective and operates effectively in all areas.
3. The Power of Documented Systems: The book emphasizes the significance of documenting systems and processes to manage people and produce predictable results. By creating a Management System, entrepreneurs can eliminate discretion at the operating level and create a franchiseable prototype of their business.
4. The Role of Psychographics in Marketing: This book introduces the idea that understanding psychographic information (attitudes, values, interests, personality traits) is crucial for marketing success. By tailoring marketing efforts to appeal to specific audiences based on these factors, entrepreneurs can create effective and targeted campaigns that resonate with their customers.
5. The Entrepreneurial Path as a Practice Hall: The book presents the entrepreneurial path as an opportunity for self-discovery and personal growth, where individuals confront inner turmoil and learn about themselves. By focusing on innovation, quantification, and orchestration, entrepreneurs can create instantaneous change and develop a business that symbolizes the life they wish to live.

Summary

Introduction

Takeaways

• Small businesses in the United States have a high failure rate.
• Most business owners work too much for little return.
• The problem is not that owners don't work, but that they do the wrong work.
• Idea #1: The E-Myth is the belief that small businesses are started by entrepreneurs; in reality, most start for reasons other than entrepreneurship.
• Idea #2: The Turn-Key Revolution is changing how business is done and who goes into business.
• Idea #3: The Business Development Process can transform a small business into an effective organization when systematically applied.
• Idea #4: Any small business owner can apply the Business Development Process in a step-by-step method for predictable results.
• Understanding the relationship between the owner and their business is crucial for success.
• A business reflects its owner, so personal growth is necessary for business growth.

Quotes

“And what makes people work is an idea worth working for, along with a clear understanding of what needs to be done.”

Chapter 1. The Entrepreneurial Myth

Takeaways

• Most business owners in America are not true entrepreneurs, but rather former technicians who had an Entrepreneurial Seizure and believed they understood a business based on their technical expertise
• The Fatal Assumption made by these technicians is that understanding the technical work of a business makes them qualified to run it
• This assumption leads to failure, as running a business involves many non-technical aspects and requires different skills than doing the technical work
• Sarah's story illustrates this phenomenon: she started a pie shop based on her love for baking but became overwhelmed by the business side of things, leading to exhaustion and despair.
• To avoid this fate, technicians should learn about the unique challenges and skills required to run a business before starting one.

Quotes

“They intoxicate themselves with work so they won’t see how they really are. Aldous Huxley”

“the business that was supposed to free him from the limitations of working for somebody else actually enslaves him. Suddenly the job he knew how to do so well becomes one job he knows how to do plus a dozen others he doesn’t know how to do at all.”

Chapter 2. The Entrepreneur the Manager, and the Technician

Takeaways

• The Entrepreneur, Manager, and Technician are three distinct personalities that exist within every individual.
• The Entrepreneur is responsible for envisioning and dreaming about a business or project. They focus on the future and thrive on change.
• The Manager is focused on order, planning, and maintaining systems. They live in the past and prefer stability.
• The Technician is the doer who loves to work with their hands and complete tasks. They live in the present and are skeptical of abstract ideas or lofty plans.
• Imbalances between these personalities can lead to confusion, frustration, and ultimately, business failure.
• To create a balanced and successful business, it's essential to give each personality the opportunity to grow and thrive.
• Entrepreneurs need to dream and wonder about the future of their business, but also need to delegate tasks to Managers and Technicians.
• Managers need to provide order and structure, while also allowing Entrepreneurs to dream and Technicians to do the work.
• Technicians need to focus on completing tasks efficiently and effectively, while also recognizing the importance of entrepreneurial vision and managerial planning.
• By understanding and balancing these personalities within ourselves and our businesses, we can create successful and fulfilling enterprises.

Quotes

“To The Manager, then, The Technician becomes a problem to be managed. To The Technician, The Manager becomes a meddler to be avoided. To both of them, The Entrepreneur is the one who got them into trouble in the first place!”

“Contrary to popular belief, my experience has shown me that the people who are exceptionally good in business aren't so because of what they know but because of their insatiable need to know more.”

“It’s time for me to challenge my imagination and to begin the process of shaping an entirely new life. And the best way to do that anywhere in this whole wide opportunity-filled world is to create an exciting new business.”

Chapter 3. Infancy: The Technician’s Phase

Takeaways

• Businesses, like people, need to grow and change, but many are not run according to this principle.
• The Technician who runs a company wants a place to work without constraints, but this mindset dooms the business.
• Understanding the three phases of a business's growth - Infancy, Adolescence, and Maturity - is critical for ensuring yours thrives.
• In the Infancy stage, the owner and the business are one and the same; the Technician does all the work, but soon becomes overwhelmed and unable to keep up.
• Realizing the business cannot continue as it has been leads to most failures and many Technicians walk away.
• A Technician-turned-business-owner focuses on the tactical work instead of the strategic view, leading to a complicated, frustrating job.
• To build a successful small business, one must expand beyond the role of a Technician and develop entrepreneurial and managerial skills.

Quotes

“most businesses are operated according to what the owner wants as opposed to what the business needs.”

“To be a great Technician is simply insufficient to the task of building a great small business. Being consumed by the tactical work of the business, as every Technician suffering from an Entrepreneurial Seizure is, leads to only one thing: a complicated, frustrating, and, eventually, demeaning job!”

“If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business—you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic!”

“Because, the moment you chose to start a small business, Sarah, you unwittingly chose to play a significantly larger game than any game you had ever played before.”

Chapter 4. Adolescence: Getting Some Help

Takeaways

• Adolescence in business occurs when you hire your first employee to help with tasks you don't want to do or aren't skilled at.
• Technical help is the most common type of help small business owners seek during this phase.
• Hiring an experienced employee can make your business run more smoothly and efficiently.
• Management by delegation is essential for growth, but be careful not to abdicate responsibilities completely.
• Keep involved in the business to ensure quality and prevent issues from arising.

Chapter 5. Beyond the Comfort Zone

Takeaways

• A business that "gets small again" is a sign of an owner's resistance to change and personal limitations, which can result in disappointment, lost investment, and shattered lives for all involved.
• The natural disposition of every business is to either grow or contract.
• To prepare for growth, the owner needs to educate themselves, understand key processes, objectives, and position in the marketplace, and write down a clear plan.
• A Mature company is founded with a broader perspective, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a vision for building a business that works without the owner's constant involvement.
• The real question is not what to do about specific people but rather how to deal with future relationships.
• Sarah was ready to build her business in a more enlivening way and focus on Maturity.

Quotes

“a business that ‘gets small again’ is a business reduced to the level of its owner’s personal resistance to change, to its owner’s Comfort Zone,”

“Simply put, your job is to prepare yourself and your business for growth.”

“It’s up to you to dictate your business’s rate of growth as best you can by understanding the key processes that need to be performed, the key objectives that need to be achieved, the key position you are aiming your business to hold in the marketplace.”

“Remember, Sarah, any plan is better than no plan. “Because in the process of defining the future, the plan begins to shape itself to reality, both the reality of the world out there and the reality you are able to create in here. “And as those two realities merge, they form a new reality—call it your reality, call it the unique invention that is uniquely yours, the reality of your mind and your heart uniting with all the elements of your business, and your business with the world, shaping, designing, collaborating, to form something that never existed before in exactly that way.”

“company is started differently than all the rest. A Mature company is founded on a broader perspective, an entrepreneurial perspective, a more intelligent point of view. About building a business that works not because of you but without you. “And because it starts that way, it is more likely to continue that way. And therein resides the true difference between an Adolescent company, where everything is left up to chance, and a Mature company, where there is a vision against which the present is shaped. “But I’m getting ahead of myself,” I said. “The important”

Chapter 6. Maturity and the Entrepreneurial Perspective

Takeaways

• Maturity is a distinct phase of a company's growth, exemplified by businesses like McDonald's, Federal Express, and Disney.
• Companies that start out as mature businesses have leaders with a different perspective about what a business is and why it works.
• The Entrepreneurial Perspective asks "How must the business work?" instead of "What work has to be done?"
• An entrepreneurial business is built around a clear vision of the future, which guides daily actions towards that goal.
• A mature business operates as a network of integrated components, each contributing to a larger pattern, while a technician's business focuses narrowly on the work being done.
• The Entrepreneurial Model creates a business that fulfills specific customer needs in an innovative way, while a technician-led business focuses on selling a product or service.
• To awaken your inner entrepreneur and build a successful business, seek out a model of a business that works and inspires innovation.
• For a balanced and inclusive business model, ensure The Entrepreneur, The Manager, and The Technician all find their natural place within it.
• Consider the Turn-Key Revolution as an example of a revolutionary development that transformed American small business.

Quotes

“I once heard a story about Tom Watson, the founder of IBM. Asked to what he attributed the phenomenal success of IBM, he is said to have answered: IBM is what it is today for three special reasons. The first reason is that, at the very beginning, I had a very clear picture of what the company would look like when it was finally done. You might say I had a model in my mind of what it would look like when the dream—my vision—was in place. The second reason was that once I had that picture, I then asked myself how a company which looked like that would have to act. I then created a picture of how IBM would act when it was finally done. The third reason IBM has been so successful was that once I had a picture of how IBM would look when the dream was in place and how such a company would have to act, I then realized that, unless we began to act that way from the very beginning, we would never get there. In other words, I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a great company long before it ever became one. From the very outset, IBM was fashioned after the template of my vision. And each and every day we attempted to model the company after that template. At the end of each day, we asked ourselves how well we did, discovered the disparity between where we were and where we had committed ourselves to be, and, at the start of the following day, set out to make up for the difference. Every day at IBM was a day devoted to business development, not doing business. We didn’t do business at IBM, we built one Now,”

“The Entrepreneurial Model What does The Entrepreneur see off in the distance that The Technician finds so difficult to see? What exactly is the Entrepreneurial Model? It’s a model of a business that fulfills the perceived needs of a specific segment of customers in an innovative way. The Entrepreneurial Model looks at a business as if it were a product, sitting on a shelf and competing for the customer’s attention against a whole shelf of competing products (or businesses). Said another way, the Entrepreneurial Model has less to do with what’s done in a business and more to do with how it’s done. The commodity isn’t what’s important—the way it’s delivered is. When The Entrepreneur creates the model, he surveys the world and asks: “Where is the opportunity?” Having identified it, he then goes back to the drawing board and constructs a solution to the frustrations he finds among a certain group of customers. A solution in the form of a business that looks and acts in a very specific way, the way the customer needs it to look and act, not The Entrepreneur. “How will my business look to the customer?” The Entrepreneur asks. “How will my business stand out from all the rest?” Thus, the Entrepreneurial Model does not start with a picture of the business to be created but of the customer for whom the business is to be created. It understands that without a clear picture of that customer, no business can succeed. The Technician, on the other hand, looks inwardly, to”

Chapter 7. The Turn-Key Revolution

Takeaways

• Ray Kroc saw McDonald's as a model for small business owners due to its consistency and predictability.
• McDonald's kept its promise every time, delivering the same product consistently across thousands of locations.
• McDonald's created a model that could be emulated by other businesses to create an extraordinary business.
• The impact of McDonald's on the economy over the past four decades is beyond comprehension.
• Ray Kroc had a clear, undiluted purpose and fell in love with the idea of creating a consistent result time after time.
• McDonald's was an example of integrity by doing what it said it would do and finding ways to improve if unable.

Chapter 8. The Franchise Prototype

Takeaways

• Business Format Franchises have a high success rate (95%) compared to independently owned businesses (50-50% failure rate).
• The Franchise Prototype is the blueprint for the franchisor's business model and creative thought process.
• The Prototype serves as a testing ground for assumptions and innovations before implementation in the business.
• The system in the Franchise Prototype integrates all elements required to make a business work effectively.
• McDonald's used the Franchise Prototype to create a disciplined, standardized, and orderly business system.
• The Franchise Prototype enables the franchisee to learn how to manage the system and run the business successfully.
• The Franchise Prototype satisfies the needs of entrepreneurs, managers, technicians, and small business owners.
• Every great business is a franchise with its unique proprietary way of doing business.
• To build a successful business, one must create their Franchise Prototype and learn how to implement it effectively.

Quotes

“The Franchise Prototype is also the place where all assumptions are put to the test to see how well they work before becoming operational in the business.”

“The system isn’t something you bring to the business. It’s something you derive from the process of building the business.”

Chapter 9. Working On Your Business, Not In It

Takeaways

• A business that looks orderly communicates trust and efficiency to customers and employees
• Documentation provides structure and clarity for employees, ensuring consistent service to customers
• Predictability in service and operations is crucial for customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Colors and shapes subtely affect sales
• Separating yourself from your business allows for growth and control.
• Franchise Prototype: a new way of thinking about small businesses.
• Identification with business leads to frustration, lack of control.
• Thinking of business as product opens opportunity for growth.
• E-Myth Mastery Program: proven process to change perspective and grow small business.

Quotes

“Once you recognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your business, but that the primary purpose of your business is to serve your life, you can then go to work on your business, rather than in it, with a full understanding of why it is absolutely necessary for you to do so.”

“understand that there are rules to follow if you are to win: 1. The model will provide consistent value to your customers, employees, suppliers, and lenders, beyond what they expect. 2. The model will be operated by people with the lowest possible level of skill. 3. The model will stand out as a place of impeccable order. 4. All work in the model will be documented in Operations Manuals. 5. The model will provide a uniformly predictable service to the customer. 6. The model will utilize a uniform color, dress, and facilities code.”

“The Model Will Provide Consistent Value to Your Customers, Employees, Suppliers, and Lenders, Beyond What They Expect”

“I would suggest that value is what people perceive it to be, and nothing more.”

“A business that looks orderly says to your customer that your people know what they’re doing.”

“Documentation says, “This is how we do it here.”

“Documentation is an affirmation of order.”

“…for many people, a job is crucial psychologically, over and above the paycheck. By making clear demands on their time and energy, it provides an element of structure around which the rest of their lives can be organized.”2 The operative word here is clear. Documentation provides the clarity structure needs if it is to be meaningful to your people.”

“There was absolutely no consistency to the experience.”

Chapter 10. The Business Development Process

Takeaways

• The Business Development Process is made up of three parts: Innovation, Quantification, and Orchestration.
• Innovation involves creating a unique way of doing business that differentiates it from others.
• Quantification involves measuring the impact of the innovation on the business.
• Orchestration involves eliminating discretion at the operating level of the business to ensure consistency in delivering services or products.
• The Business Development Process can be thought of as a metaphor for personal transformation, creating more life for everyone who comes into contact with the business, especially for the small business owner.
• Quality is just a word if it doesn't include harmony, balance, passion, intention, attention.
• Continuous improvement for its own sake is a waste of time.
• The Business Development Process is an opportunity to fulfill whatever is fulfillable in the place you find yourself now and in any future place you could occupy with enough imagination and wish.

Quotes

“Tolerance for failure is a very specific part of the excellent company culture—and that lesson comes directly from the top. Champions have to make lots of tries and consequently suffer some failures or the organization won’t learn. Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr. In Search of Excellence”

“Creativity thinks up new things. Innovation does new things.”

“What is standing in the way of my customer getting what he wants from my business?”

“The craftsperson develops a knowingness about the work she does that bears its own fruit, the fruit of being present, or attentive. The craftsperson learns that within the work she does there is a jewel hiding below the surface. That the thrill of the craft is to discover the jewel. And that there is only one way to discover it: to practice the craft mindlessly. To become one with the work. To polish and polish, as though with one’s heart. That there is no way to know when the jewel will show itself, but to trust with all one’s heart that one day, when it is least expected, the jewel will be there! It will appear. “And so the craftsperson is one who has reached that stage of her development where she is content with the work, and only the work, knowing that it is only through being there with one’s work that the jewel will reveal itself, and that it is the work, and only the work, raised to the level of near perfection that connects the craftsperson with herself, with her own heart. And so she practices, day in and day out, content to do so, without the thrill of the apprentice to keep her going, but knowing deep inside that there is no place to go but here.”

“Quality is just a word, and an empty word at that, if it doesn’t include harmony, balance, passion, intention, attention. “Continuous improvement for its own sake is a waste of time. “Life is what a business is about, and life is what this work is about. Coming to grips with oneself, in the face of an incredibly complex world that can teach us if we’re open to learn.”

Chapter 11. Your Business Development Program

Takeaways

• Imagine your business as a prototype for 5,000 more identical businesses.
• Prepare for potential buyers by ensuring your business runs smoothly without you.
• Innovate systems solutions to people problems and quantify results.
• Orchestrate innovations for consistent results.
• Introduce potential buyers to proud employees explaining their accountabilities.
• Use a seven-step Business Development Program: Primary Aim, Strategic Objective, Organizational Strategy, Management Strategy, People Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Systems Strategy.
• Develop your business into a franchisable prototype using the Business Development Program.

Chapter 12. Your Primary Aim

Takeaways

• The fear of losing a business is often a disguise for the deeper fear of losing oneself and one's identity.
• The curtain represents the limitations and misunderstandings that keep us from seeing the truth about ourselves and the world.
• To truly live and grow, we must be willing to lift the curtain and face the unknown, even if it means leaving our comfort zone behind.
• The only way to find out who we really are is to go out into the world and discover ourselves in action.
• Our true purpose is not to achieve a particular goal or outcome, but rather to be open, awake, and available to what's truly happening in the present moment.

Quotes

“All you need to do is begin living your life as if it were important. All you need to do is take your life seriously. To create it intentionally. To actively make your life into the life you wish it to be.”

“With no clear picture of how you wish your life to be, how on earth are you going to live it? What is your Primary Aim? Where is the script to make your dreams come true? what is the first step to take and how do you measure your progress? How far have you gone and how close are you to getting to your goals?”

“I believe great people to be those who know how they got where they are, and what they need to do to get where they’re going. Great people have a vision of their lives that they practice emulating each and every day. They go to work on their lives, not just in their lives. Their lives are spent living out the vision they have of their future, in the present. They compare what they’ve done with what they intended to do. And where there’s a disparity between the two, they don’t wait very long to make up the difference.”

“The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is living fully and just existing.”

“Let me repeat once more that great quote by Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda’s A Separate Peace: “The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a curse.” So before you start your business, or before you return to it tomorrow, ask yourself the following questions: • What do I wish my life to look like? • How do I wish my life to be on a day-to-day basis? • What would I like to be able to say I truly know in my life, about my life? • How would I like to be with other people in my life—my family, my friends, my business associates, my customers, my employees, my community? • How would I like people to think about me? • What would I like to be doing two years from now? Ten years from now? Twenty years from now? When my life comes to a close? • What specifically would I like to learn during my life—spiritually, physically, financially, technically, intellectually? About relationships? • How much money will I need to do the things I wish to do? By when will I need it? These are just a few of the questions you might ask yourself in the creation of your Primary Aim.”

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse,”

Chapter 13. Your Strategic Objective

Takeaways

• Sarah's Strategic Objective involves expanding her business, All About Pies, to four locations in seven years, aiming for annual sales of $1.8 million and a net profit of $270,000.
• She plans to document all the processes in her current shop to make it operate without her presence.
• Sarah wants to instill the values of caring deeply and often in her business, making it a model for everyone involved.
• Each shop will use fruit from central organic gardens for baking pies.
• She intends to hire and train employees to run the shops based on her own experience with her aunt.
• Sarah wants to differentiate All About Pies from competitors by using homegrown, seasonal fruit in their pies.
• Her aunt serves as a guiding figure for decision-making in her business.

Quotes

“And as the world becomes more and more complex, and the commodities more varied, the feelings we want become more urgent, less rational, more unconscious.”

“So when you ask, “Is this business an Opportunity Worth Pursuing?” the only way to tell is to determine how many selling opportunities you have (your customers’ demographics) and how successfully you can satisfy the emotional or perceived needs lurking there (your customers’ psychographics).”

Chapter 14. Your Organizational Strategy

Takeaways

• Creating an Organization Chart is essential for entrepreneurial success.
• The Organization Chart represents how the business will look when it's done, serving as a blueprint for its prototype.
• To create the Organization Chart, first determine your Strategic Objective and Primary Aim.
• Each position in the Organization Chart should be clearly defined with a Position Contract.
• Replace yourself in each position with a system that can be managed by someone else.
• The process of creating an Organization Chart involves thinking through your business as best as you can and structuring it to work effectively.
• Living by the rules you set for your business is crucial for attracting and retaining employees.

Quotes

“Accountability literally means “stand up and be counted.”

Chapter 15. Your Management Strategy

Takeaways

• A Management System is the solution to managing people and producing results in a business.
• Management Development is a marketing tool for creating an effective business, not just an efficient one.
• The Venetia resort hotel implemented a system that orchestrates the process of making management decisions and eliminates the need for such decisions wherever possible.
• The System knew guests' preferences by asking them once and then providing the same experience each time they returned.
• The Operations Manual was a series of color-coded checklists used to ensure consistent results in various areas of the hotel.
• Room Support Persons (RSPs) completed checklists and signed off on them as confirmation of completing their tasks, with failure to do so resulting in immediate dismissal.
• The back of each checklist included a drawing of the specific room, guiding RSPs through the routine and allowing for quick training of new employees.
• Spot checks were conducted daily to catch any errors and maintain high standards.
• Other systems were in place for lighting, sauna, and pool to deliver predictable results to guests.
• The owner designed the entire system to make a positive impression on guests and focused on the little things.

Chapter 16. Your People Strategy

Takeaways

• The business owner in this story prioritized cleanliness, beauty, and order as sensory experiences for his customers.
• He communicated his idea of creating a special place through documented systems and a warm, moving manner.
• The hiring process was the first and most essential medium for communicating the owner's idea to employees.
• The integrated view of business includes management, people, and systems.
• An idea worth pursuing is necessary for a People Strategy.
• A Management System sets standards for managing the business and managing people, and it differentiates the business from competitors.
• A consistent result requires a well-defined system.
• The owner in this story prioritized cleanliness, beauty, and order as sensory experiences for his customers to create a special place.
• He communicated his idea through documented systems and a warm, moving manner.
• The hiring process was the first and most essential medium for communicating the owner's idea to employees.
• An integrated view of business includes management, people, and systems.
• An idea worth pursuing is necessary for a People Strategy.
• A Management System sets standards for managing the business and managing people, and it differentiates the business from competitors.
• A consistent result requires a well-defined system.

Quotes

“The work we do is a reflection of who we are. If we’re sloppy at it, it’s because we’re sloppy inside. If we’re late at it, it’s because we’re late inside. If we’re bored by it, it’s because we’re bored inside, with ourselves, not with the work. The most menial work can be a piece of art when done by an artist. So the job here is not outside of ourselves, but inside of ourselves. How we do our work becomes a mirror of how we are inside.”

“There is no such thing as undesirable work,” he continued. “There are only people who see certain kinds of work as undesirable. People who use every excuse in the world to justify why they have to do work they hate to do. People who look upon their work as a punishment for who they are and where they stand in the world, rather than as an opportunity to see themselves as they really are.”

“Most people today are not getting what they want. Not from their jobs, not from their families, not from their religion, not from their government, and, most important, not from themselves. Something is missing in most of our lives. Part of what’s missing is purpose. Values. Worthwhile standards against which our lives can be measured. Part of what’s missing is a Game Worth Playing.”

“What’s also missing is a sense of relationship. People suffer in isolation from one another. In a world without purpose, without meaningful values, what have we to share but our emptiness, the needy fragments of our superficial selves? As a result, most of us scramble about hungrily seeking distraction, in music, in television, in people, in drugs. And most of all we seek things. Things to wear and things to do. Things to fill the emptiness. Things to shore up our eroding sense of self. Things to which we can attach meaning, significance, life. We’ve fast become a world of things. And most people are being buried in the profusion. What most people need, then, is a place of community that has purpose, order, and meaning. A place in which being human is a prerequisite, but acting human is essential. A place where the generally disorganized thinking that pervades our culture becomes organized and clearly focused on a specific worthwhile result. A place where discipline and will become prized for what they are: the backbone of enterprise and action, of being what you are intentionally instead of accidentally. A place that replaces the home most of us have lost. That’s what a business can do; it can create a Game Worth Playing.”

“Because your managers don’t simply manage people; your managers manage the System by which your business, All About Pies, achieves its objectives. “The System produces the results; your people manage the system. “And there is a Hierarchy of Systems in your business. “This Hierarchy is composed of four distinct components: “The first is, How We Do It Here. “The second is, How We Recruit, Hire, and Train People to Do It Here. “The Third is, How We Manage It Here. “The Fourth is, How We Change It Here.”

Chapter 17. Your Marketing Strategy

Takeaways

• Understanding your customer's demographics and psychographics is crucial for marketing success.
• Demographic information includes factors such as age, gender, income level, education, etc. Psychographic information includes attitudes, values, interests, and personality traits.
• Determining the demographics and psychographics of your customers can be done through surveys, interviews, and observing customer behavior.
• Understanding these factors will help you tailor your marketing efforts to appeal to your specific audience.
• The marketing process includes lead generation (attracting potential customers), lead conversion (making the sale), and client fulfillment (delivering on the promise).
• Marketing is an ongoing process that requires continuous improvement.
• Effective marketing requires a strong strategic objective, clear rules of the game, and integration between different parts of the business.
• Systems play a crucial role in ensuring that all aspects of the business are aligned with the strategic objective and working together effectively.

Quotes

“So in the development of your Marketing Strategy, it is absolutely imperative that you forget about your dreams, forget about your visions, forget about your interests, forget about what you want—forget about everything but your customer!”

“seen from the appropriate perspective, the entire business process by which your company does what it does is a marketing process.”

Chapter 18. Your Systems Strategy

Takeaways

• The business system consists of three interconnected parts: Hard Systems (physical and visual components), Information Systems, and Soft Systems (verbal and written communications).
• All aspects of a business, including its name, recruitment scripts, customer brochures, ads, and everyday interactions, should convey a consistent message and be part of the Soft System.
• A well-defined Idea behind the business is essential and serves as the heart and spirit of the business.
• The Technician's role is not enough to fully realize a business' potential; there are additional roles required, such as Manager, Entrepreneur, and Marketing Strategist, to develop a Systems Strategy and create an integrated and successful business.

Quotes

“Most salespeople think that selling is “closing.” It isn’t. Selling is opening.”

“1. Your Primary Aim 2. Your Strategic Objective 3. Your Organizational Strategy 4. Your Management Strategy 5. Your People Strategy 6. Your Marketing Strategy 7. Your Systems Strategy”

Chapter 19. A Letter to Sarah

Takeaways

• Freedom requires daily effort and commitment, it's not automatic.
• Meaning comes from caring and valuing what we do.
• Modern businesspeople lack serious introspection and focus on superficial values.
• True meaning lies in one's spirit and the path ahead, not the past.
• Choosing a path and following it with openness leads to rediscovering your spirit.
• The entrepreneurial path offers constant engagement, surprise, and freedom.
• Comfort zones can seize us and make cowards of us all; guard your spirit with your life.

Quotes

“Thus freedom is not just the matter of saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to a specific decision: it is the power to mold and create ourselves. Freedom is the capacity, to use Nietzsche’s phrase, ‘to become what we truly are.’”1 And”

Epilogue: Bringing the Dream Back to American Small Business

Takeaways

• Change starts within oneself, not in the world "out there."
• A small business can serve as a practice hall or dojo where one confronts inner turmoil and learns about oneself.
• Innovation, quantification, and orchestration provide structure and discipline for understanding how the world works.
• Engaging fully in the process of business development creates instantaneous change and makes the business a symbol for the life one wishes to live.

Quotes

“You should know now that a man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, not by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting. A man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it. Carlos Castaneda”

Discussion

What do you think of "The E-myth Revisited"? Share your thoughts with the community below.