As my Spiritual mentor Dr. William A. Beckham observed the chaos in my small business life, he said “Howard, you need the E-Myth”. Michael Gerber’s book The E-Myth (now The E-Myth Revisited) revolutionized small business. Michael coined the term “working ON the business instead of the IN the business”.
The year was 1997 and I felt like a slave to my business. I loved to travel, but most of the “vacation” was consumed on the cell phone talking to employees and customers back home. After reading the E-Myth and making the decision to “systematize” my business – to work “on” it instead of “in” it and to get it “turnkey”, I transformed that first business into a predictable, profitable, multimillion dollar enterprise.
It would never have been possible without the insights from The E-Myth.
The following year, I began to share my new found knowledge (and marketing systems that I developed) with other business owners. The result is that Phenomenal Products, Inc. has been able to help countless small business owners stop being slaves to their businesses. Every day I get thank you cards, e-mails, or Facebook posts from small business owners that now have more freedom in their lives because they worked ON their business.
Breakfast with Michael in Las Vegas
Previewing the agenda for a convention I was speaking at, I noticed that Michael was going to be the keynote speaker. The promoter arranged for us to have breakfast together. With my knees knocking, I was now face to face with the man that wrote the book that changed my life. He challenged me from the get-go. He grilled me about my business model. By the end of breakfast, I had decided that I must get Michael in front of my audience at my own conference.
So, Michael came to speak to my group. And of course it was a smashing success. Over time Michael and I became friends and shared the stage numerous times. He has been on my stage a number of times as well. I attended The Dreaming Room, a small forum where Michael puts you on the hot seat and uses his prophetic insight to pull out your reason for existence and how you will change the world. Michael has a gift. Seeing that gift in action is amazing.
I count Michael as a friend and I recommend that you get as close to him as possible and learn as much as you can from him. There’s a long trail of successful enterprises in his wake. I spent this past weekend with the principles of a $40M company that started from scratch. Who was their mentor along the way to help them scale their business model? You guessed it. Michael E. Gerber.
My Spiritual mentor and friend Bill Beckham who first told me about The E-Myth shows how Michael’s insights about organization even impact the church.
Read ALL of Michael’s books.
Start with The E-Myth Revisited, Awakening the Entrepreneur from Within, and if you’re really serious about your business, read E-Myth Mastery. It is a MASTERPIECE!
What will you learn? You’ll learn to get on the journey of finding out why your business exists, why it matters, how it will add meaning to your life and add value to the world. You’ll learn how to get ordinary people to give you extraordinary results. You’ll learn how to scale your business so you can reach more people and not be a slave to it.
Most of all, you’ll be in the mind of a genius.
Michael, I will always love you. Happy Birthday my friend.
