Small Business Owners: Read this book!

Since this is the very first week of our “Smart-n Up” series of post, I thought it appropriate to talk about one of the most important books for small business owners to read and to understand. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber is an updated version of his original book “The E-Myth” (now out of print). This should be required reading for every small business owner out there.

I rarely (if ever), go to a conference that discusses small business issues where the principles outlined in the E-Myth are not discussed in some fashion. Michael Gerber dismisses the common Myths about owning your own business and helps owners easily distinguish whether they want a “business” or a “job.” Unfortunately, most small business owners more closely resemble someone in a “job” than someone who owns a business.

Gerber, who has been a long-time consultant for small business success, makes it clear that most businesses fail; however, the ones that succeed do not do so because of luck. They succeed because they are organized properly. They are organized much the way that many franchises are organized – so that an ordinary “Joe” can walk in off the street and operate the business. This is done through business systems/processes. Why do you think that a McDonald’s in Japan operates exactly the same as a McDonald’s here in the Charlotte area?

It isn’t because of luck. It is because of systems. As Gerber puts it “Your business is not your life.” Your business should be a means to the life you want, but it should not consume you. Getting the proper systems in place does several things for your business – most importantly, it allows you to step back from the day-to-day grind of keeping your business operating and allows you to concentrate your efforts on growing your business.

That brings us to another great reason for the systems – scalability. Let’s face it, a plumber can physically only fix so many toilets by himself, but if he has functional systems in place, there is no limit to the amount of toilets his business can service. It’s all about systems. Do you have all of the systems in place in your business?

I have glossed over the points that Gerber talks about in detail through the book. I can’t even begin to give his work justice – much less so in a short blog post. Again, this is a book that every small business owner needs to read. After you read it the first time, you will probably want to read it again.

Where you can get The E-Myth Revisited:

Amazon.com Paperback

Amazon.com Audio CD

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library

Over the past couple of years, I have become a much more avid reader – especially of books that will help me succeed with my goals. I have been able to cut out a lot of television and other non-productive activities, and I have used these “found” hours to concentrate more closely on success oriented tasks. I have heard the following phrase several times, although, I have no idea who said it.

“If you’re not getting smarter, you’re getting dumber.”

The essence of this statement revolves around the idea that educational opportunities are so plentiful that the average person is getting a little smarter each day. If you are staying the status quo, then by comparison, you are drifting lower and lower down the “smart” versus “dumb” scale in relation to everyone else.

Don't Let This Be You!

 With the growth of the Internet and the vast amount of knowledge resources in the market today, I believe that this is much more true than ever. Individuals and organizations have the ability to supercharge their learning today with countless educational opportunities available online. From a nearly infinite number of educational videos on YouTube (it’s not just funny videos), to a never ending supply of educational podcast on iTunes, there is no end to the number of free educational opportunities in the market today.  And, of course, let us not forget the old standard – books.

While I have always read industry periodicals and research to stay on top of things, I had rarely picked up a book and read it. Last year, I set a goal to read more books – enough to total 5,000 pages during the year. After finishing thirty books last year, I had blown through over 5,800 pages and had expanded my knowledge on several key topics that have helped me immensely in both my business and my life.

The question everyone must ask themselves is: “What am I doing to make myself smarter today?” Phrased another way, “What am I doing to grow my knowledge today so that I can help fuel my business and personal growth?”

Quite often, I run across many educational opportunities and items that I feel might help or be of interest to my small business clients. Therefore, we are going to start incorporating a weekly segment into the blog called “Smart’n up with…” to discuss these things. Quite often, they will be books, but they may also include Podcasts, YouTube educational segments, or any other item that may interest our clients.   Hopefully, I can pass along a few great resources to each of our clients and blog readers as well.

Also, I would like to add that if you come across any great resources or books, please pass them along to me.  I would love to hear about them.

As one of my goals this year, I decided to turn off the television and to read more. I was not sure how much I could read in a given year. I also realized that not all books are the same. There are some books I could read in a night and some books that might take me a month. After much deliberation, I decided to set my goal based on the total pages of the books rather than the books themselves. In other words, quick one-night reads would not count as much as a 400-page book that would take longer to read. After much consideration, I decided to set my goal at 5,000 pages for the year. As someone who has read only a couple of books all the way through since college (almost 15 years ago), I thought my goal was extremely lofty, and I wasn’t sure if it was attainable. I am happy to say that even during my “busy” season, I have been able to outpace my goal.

So far, I have read six books this year – about one per week – totaling 1,114 pages. It is amazing how much time one can free up for productive activities when the television is off. Here is where I would like to thank all of the members of the Writer’s Guild of America for going on strike. If there was anything at all on television, I probably would never have figured out that reading is actually enjoyable.

Of the six books that I have read so far this year, I would like to mention the follow three as that are particularly good reads related to personal finance and entreprenuership. They are as follows:

1) Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
With over 15 million copies sold worldwide, Think & Grow Rich is widely known as one of the greatest personal achievement books ever written. This is a MUST read for anyone who wants to maximize their success in business (or in life for that matter.)

2) You’re Broke Because You Want to Be by Larry Winget. This was a great book. Larry provides a tough and direct, no-nonsense approach to answering why so many Americans are failing to achieve what they want financially. This is a must read for anyone who is falling behind on a month-to-month basis and is struggling to make ends meet.

3) How to Ruin Your Financial Life by Ben Stein. Most of my generation remembers Ben Stein as the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (“Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?) or from his hit TV games show, Win Ben Stein’s Money. I could write a few pages on what else Ben Stein has been up to, but you can just click here to find out more about Ben Stein – “everything but his shoe size and the length of his left arm.”

How to Ruin Your Financial Life provided a different approach than most all personal finance books. Instead of telling you how to improve your situation, Ben detailed out surefire ways to sabatoge your financial future. From collecting as many credits cards as you can and investing in penny stocks, to making sure you loan your new boyfriend/girlfriend that money they are needing, Ben covers it all. This was also a really quick read at only 128 pages – and big print.

I will let you know how my progress is coming throughout the year. I am on track to blow my goal out of the water, but it is still very early in the year.