In my most recent Chats with Champions call, I had the honor of interviewing Michael Gerber, who has been a mentor to me through his book The E-Myth, especially when I was first starting out as an entrepreneur. Never having met Michael before, it was an exciting opportunity to talk to someone who has influenced me personally, as well as millions of others.
Michael Gerber is the #1 small business guru and has helped turn around over 75,000 businesses in over 145 countries! For those of you that have not read The E-Myth, it stands for the Entrepreneurial Myth. Michael points out that most entrepreneurs are not business people, they are technical experts. A doctor opens a medical practice, a baker opens a bakery, a beautician opens a salon, etc. Because they know how to do the work, they believe that they know how to create a business that does that work. And herein lays the E-Myth: Having the technical ability to do something and having the ability to build a business about something you know how to do are two completely different skill sets.
Yet, in this economy, more and more and more people are striking out on their own and becoming sole proprietors. What they dont realize is that they are really just becoming self-employed for a boss that usually does not know how to run a business (themselves). The proof is in the statistics: 80% of all new companies fail within their first 5 years. Of those that survive in the first 5 years, the majority of them will fail within 10 years.
I highly recommend listening to the entire call. Michael is working in a variety of exciting new projects that are for entrepreneurs just starting out, as well as entrepreneurs that want to learn how to turn their own businesses around and then teach others how to do the same thing using his proprietary systems. If you visit www.michaelegerber.com, you will find information on his two latest ventures: The Dreaming Room and Origination, as well as his new book The Most Successful Small Business In the World, focused on helping an entrepreneur understand exactly what has to be done at the beginning of building a new business to be truly successful.
Although Michael focused on a wide variety of important points, the two that I want to highlight here are:
- Sales is an absolute critical aspect of entrepreneurial success, but there are many other aspects, as well. A concept we also teach that we touched on is: You must have the other aspects of business in place, creating systems and a culture that will support the business being successful, growing and becoming scalable in your absence.
- And, most importantly: One of the absolutely mandatory factors that any entrepreneur that wants to succeed must have is a vision and mission that answers the question of, What am I going to add to this market, to this world, and to others lives through my business that otherwise would not have happened, if I did not start my business? It is this bigger vision that pulls people through the roughest patches to ultimately succeed.
Both Michael and I believe that as human beings, we are all gifted with our own special talents and creativity which we are meant to focus on using to help make a positive impact in this world. Entrepreneurs get the opportunity to design and live into this role when they create a truly successful business!
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