Michael Gerber

My eyes were opened on this work life issue when I read the ground-breaking book “The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work And What To Do About It” by Michael Gerber. As far as I’m concerned, it is a must read book for the vast majority of business owners.

In it, Gerber identifies three roles played by the business owner in a small business and believes that few do the last one well. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Michael Gerber is

The E-Myth Contractor: Why Most Contractors’ Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars, meaning Worthwhile.

Here is my book review.

Not a replacement for The E-Myth Revisited

For many years, I’ve recommended the author’s book, The E-Myth Revisited as an important read for aspiring and struggling business owners. I was interested to see whether The E-Myth Contractor replaced that book for contractors or whether it should be read as a way to help focus those powerful ideas to a specific type of business. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Michael Gerber is

Beyond The E-Myth: The Evolution of an Enterprise: From a Company of One to a Company of 1,000!

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a kind Three Stars.

Here is my review.

Sorry but it’s a non-essential follow-up to The E-Myth Revisited. Small business owners are different to entrepreneurs.

I have recently written a blog article about the 12 best books to give business owners a great business education.

The very first book on that list was The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber. However I gave a big warning about the writing style and admit that the Summary: The E-Myth Revisited: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book has the advantage of giving you the big ideas without the drivel.

If you ignore the first half, E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company has also got plenty to recommend it.

In this book, Gerber refers to bad reviews from haters so I want to make it clear that I don’t hate Michael Gerber and nor do I wish to undermine his contribution to small businesses around the world.

In 2016, Michael Gerber has a new book and The Rolling Stones have released a new studio album.

If you’re a Stones fan, you’ll believe from repeated experiences that it’s unlikely the band have returned to the glory days of Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street. Keen fans will try it and may delight in having something new from their heroes but they’ll know it’s not worthy of comparison to those 40+ year old classics.

I felt the same when I was offered the chance to review Michael Gerber’s new book before it was released. I was regularly disappointed with his new books and I ignored the emails. When you get something for free, it’s hard to write a critical review. Then I had an email to say that it was available as a Kindle book for a very low price so I thought I’d give the author another chance to impress me.

It hasn’t happened although I’m pleased to tell you that the slushy, sentimental writing that ruined the first half of E-Myth Mastery and all of Awakening the Entrepreneur Within has been avoided.

The writing style is still irritating. I was getting so irritated by the never-ending sentences, I counted one. 62 words and I don’t think I picked the longest. It’s also repetitive as he’s trying to brainwash you into seeing the world his way.

The problem is that Gerber is frustrated. The subtitle of The E-Myth Revisited is Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It and by and large, that’s what he did through the E-Myth coaching programme. Businesses that were shaky were made sound.

He didn’t fix the business owners. Creating a good small business isn’t good enough for Gerber, he wants his followers to create great big businesses. The next Apple or Google or Walmart.

That’s a terrific objective if that’s what you want to do but I think it’s a mistake to disparage the ambitions of the small business owners around the world who don’t want to do anything close to creating a giant organisation.

In fact, I feel it’s a sell-out to one of the ideas that I liked most about The E-Myth Revisited. In that book he talks about living your life intentionally and getting clear on your Primary Aim (for your personal life). He even suggests drafting your own eulogy looking back at your life so that you are clear on the mark you want to leave on the world. Your business becomes a means to creating that end because you design your business to give you the life you want.

The problem is that true entrepreneurs are a totally different breed of person to the normal small business owner. I’m not at all sure it’s a good idea to try to convert one to the other and certainly not by making the business owner feel bad and unworthy.

Read this book as a treatise on entrepreneurship.

Much of what he says is more relevant if you are starting out wanting to create a big business of a 1,000 or more people. Entrepreneurs love the process of creation and proving the concept in the marketplace but are not necessarily the right people to take a company through the growth stage into maturity.

It makes sense to think about selling the business from the start and who might want to buy it. I’m sure there are plenty of tech start-ups who are dreaming about being bought out by Google, Facebook or Microsoft.

The E-Myth Revisited book has been criticised by some for wanting to follow the McDonald’s path. For many, its consistently mediocre product is not something to aspire to. That’s misunderstanding what Gerber means. The franchise prototype which guarantees consistency across different locations is something to aspire to for businesses that want to grow that way. The downside is that it makes change much harder as bulk reduces agility in the face of changing market wants and needs.

Even as a book for entrepreneurs, this is clumsy and I don’t think it’s particularly inspiring either. He admits that he’s going to tell the reader what to do and why but not how to do it. If you want fast growth when you’re well beyond the start-up phase, look for books about “scaling up”.

I’m surprised that he says this is a trilogy to be read with The E-Myth Revisited and What to Do About It and Awakening the Entrepreneur Within. It feels like a rewrite of the Awakening book with little bits of The E-Myth and Power Point (aka The E-Myth Enterprise), a bit like a dodgy greatest hits CD when the hit songs belong to another record label and have been re-recorded when the band are tired and uninspired.

Just like The Rolling Stones, Michael Gerber is finding it hard to capture the glories of his early years when he had something new and important to say. This isn’t a 5 or 4 stars book as far as I’m concerned.

Is it worth 2 or 3 stars? I’ve given in 3 but I feel I’ve been generous. I don’t hate Gerber and I don’t hate The Stones. I just feel that their most important works were decades ago.

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I have identified a tightly defined business library of 12 great books suitable for entrepreneurs and business owners.

The list will keep developing as I find new books to include but I don’t want the list to exceed twelve books. I’ve read and reviewed hundreds of business books and you can discover the full list at Business Book Reviews including my ratings from 1 to 5 Stars.

Why 12? It’s a book a month and then, in the second year, I recommend you read them again.

If you need helping applying the ideas and your business is based in the UK, it may be time for a complimentary Business SOS.

The Twelve Best Business Books For Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

These are the twelve books I currently recommend most strongly. Below the list, I explain why the books are included. The links take you to reviews on this website and not to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

1. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber – *****
2. Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham – *****
3. The Genghis Khan Guide to Business by Brian Charles John Warnes – *****
4. The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes – *****
5. Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch – *****
6. The Brain Audit By Sean D’Souza – *****
7. Blue Ocean Strategy by W Chan Kim and Renee A Mauborgne and Blue Ocean Shift by the same authors. – *****
8. The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson – *****
9. Profits Aren’t Everything They’re the Only Thing by George Cloutier – *****
10. Forget the Urgent!: Rather Focus On The Important by Matias Birrell and Javier Arevalo – *****
11. My provisional choice on the Inner Game (what the business owner thinks and feels) is Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It’s been a hugely influential book and many entrepreneurs love it although it feels a bit old fashioned to me.
12. A book about clearer thinking and better decision making. My provisional choice is Thinking Smarter by Michael Kallett.

You can get these from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

[continue reading…]

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: The E-Myth Revisited: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book

I have a love and hate relationship with the full book, The E-Myth Revisited.

Will the summary have the best bits without the worst? Yes, it’s excellent and I gave the summary a full FIVE stars rating in my review on Amazon.co.uk.

Here is my book summary review.

An excellent summary that gives you the important ideas of Michael Gerber without the irritating bits

I believe The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It is one of the most important small business books ever written. I recently wrote a blog article about the 12 best business books for business owners and it was the first I mentioned. Not because it provides all the answers but it does a great job of highlighting the problems and their causes. [continue reading…]

In my review of

Summary: Awakening the Entrepreneur Within Michael Gerber

posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 3 Stars.

Here is my review.

A condensed version of the entrepreneur’s creation process without the waffle

I admire Michael Gerber’s thinking and insight but I’m a critic of his writing.

Incredibly the indulgence increased from The E-Myth Revisited to E-Myth Mastery and increased again in Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies. The good ideas become harder to dig out and you need more resilience to make it through to the end. [continue reading…]

In my review of

Summary: The E-Myth Enterprise: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book

posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 3 Stars.

Here is my review.

Summarised update to an early Gerber book The Power Point

“The E-Myth Enterprise” is an updated and retitled version of one of his early books, “The Power Point” which has been out of print for many years.

I bought “The Power Point” when I was making the transition from, working with medium sized businesses to smaller businesses owned by entrepreneurs. At that time, I was eager to learn as much as I could about Gerber’s ideas. [continue reading…]

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: E-Myth Mastery: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book

I had mixed feelings about the E-Myth Mastery book by Michael Gerber.

When I reviewed the summary on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a rating of Four Stars, the same as for the full book.

Here is my book review.

Summary without the dreadful bits but light on the good bits

Gerber’s earlier book, “The E-Myth Revisited” was strong on important concepts for business owners but it was light on details. The full version of this book puts that right by sharing important parts of the E Myth coaching course for a fraction of the price.

Unfortunately the full book has a major problem for anyone who found the syrupy story of Sarah and her All About Pies bakery business uncomfortable reading. There is much more here along with other self indulgent nonsense. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Michael Gerber is

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Two Stars.

Here is my review.

Very disappointing. I expected far more from this small business guru

I am angry, disappointed and frustrated and it’s lucky to get the Two Star rating I’ve given it.

I am a big fan of Michael Gerber and his ideas about small business development. I have given the “E Myth Revisited” book a five star review and “E Myth Mastery” would have received another five star rating if it hadn’t been sabotaged by a sloppy, sentimental writing style. [continue reading…]