You’re smart you’ve got a ton of experience, and you’re not afraid to take a risk. You’ve got the perfect resume to be a successful business owner, right?
This is the trap that countless “entrepreneurs” fall into. The skill of managing a business is a completely separate skill from practicing medicine, practicing law, or being a mechanic. You can be the most talented technician in the world, but that doesn’t automatically make you a good leader or manager.
The workaround for this fateful trap met by every startup business is laid out in a series of books titled “The E Myth” by Michael Gerber. “E” in Gerber’s concept is not for “electronic”, but for “entrepreneur”. In short, this book is the roadmap for working less “in” your business, and more “on” your business.
The E-myth principals are the pillars of our approach at Duckett Ladd. We encourage everyone to investigate these three takeaways:
- Take the switch from being an employee to an entrepreneur seriously: When you first go out on your own, it will be easy to feel instantly free of the red tape from your former employer. You’ll likely gain a quick steady influx of new customers who were happy to give you a shot, and that is great. But don’t let yourself become slave to the work again; To be a true entrepreneur, you have to allow yourself the time and energy to build a plan and vision to move your business beyond just the work you can do. This sometimes means sacrificing early profits replace the work that you could be doing yourself with other talent. Remember, it’s all in the name of moving your business forward, not your workload.
- Understand what your actual business is: When Ray Kroc purchased his first franchise from the McDonald’s brothers, he had no intention of being in the hamburger business. He knew he was in the franchising business; hamburgers were simply a means to an end. Every move Kroc made was in an effort to build a better model so he could sell more franchises. This lead to earth-shattering fame and success, exponentially surpassing what the burger-focused McDonald brothers would ever have accomplished.
- Build a model that is bigger than you: The more talented the business owner, the harder it is for them to let go of doing the actual work. But if you truly wish to be a successful business entrepreneur, it is crucial that you remove yourself as the technician. Hire a competent manager and the talent that you can duplicate over and over. This is the only way to ever grow your company into more than just another job.
We encourage you to read a copy of The E-Myth, including many of their follow up books that are industry-specific. We’re also big fans of their weekly blog at emyth.com!
