The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

Those mundane and tedious little things that, when done exactly right, with the right kind of attention and intention, form in their aggregate a distinctive essence, an evanescent quality that distinguishes every great business you’ve ever done business with from its more mediocre counterparts whose owners are satisfied to simply get through the da

It is self-evident that business, like people, are supposed to grow; and with growth, comes change. Unfortunately, most businesses are not run according to this principle. Instead most businesses are operated according to what the owner wants as opposed to what the business needs. And what The Technician who runs the company wants is not growth or

That Fatal Assumption is: if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work. And the reason it’s fatal is that it just isn’t true. In fact, it’s the root cause of most small business failures! The technical work of a business and a business that does that technical work are two totally diffe

And as the business grows beyond the owner’s Comfort Zone—as the tailspin accelerates—there are only three courses of action to be taken, only three ways the business can turn. It can return to Infancy. It can go for broke. Or it can hang on for dear life.

But it’s a three-way battle between The Entrepreneur, The Manager, and The Technician.

The commercial is saying, “Buy Chanel and this fantasy can be yours.” What’s your product? What feeling will your customer walk away with? Peace of mind? Order? Power? Love? What is he really buying when he buys from you? The truth is, nobody’s interested in the commodity. People buy feelings. And as the world becomes more and more complex, and the

The question then becomes: If my customer doesn’t know what he wants, how can I? The answer is, you can’t! Not unless you know more about him than he does about himself. Not unless you know his demographics and his psychographics. Demographics and psychographics are the two essential pillars supporting a successful marketing program. If you know wh

“And so, while the VP/Marketing and the VP/Operations and the VP/Finance each have their own specific accountabilities, they share one common purpose—to make a promise their customer wants to hear, and to deliver on that promise better than anyone else on the block!

The First Standard: Money The first standard of your Strategic Objective is money. Gross revenues. How big is your vision? How big will your company be when it’s finally done? Will it be a $300,000 company? A million-dollar company? A $500-million company?

“To do what? “To deliver the promise no one else in your industry dares to make! “That’s what marketing is, Sarah. That’s what your business must be. Alive, growing, committed to keeping a promise no competitor would dare to make.