Kasey’s Book Club: The E-Myth Revisited
If there is something I like to do other than lift and watch Lord of the Rings, it’s reading.
English was always my best subject and something that always seemed to come naturally.
In other words, I read good.
Whenever I read Facebook statuses or see emails that use, “Its”, instead of “it’s”, there is a small part of me that wants to be a jackass and say, “Ummm..do you possess (insert something they do not possess)?”
In the past year and a half, as my personal training business has picked up, I haven’t spent as much time as I would like just relaxing and reading a good book.
It’s definitely something that has to be planned out in my calendar. And this is sad, but I actually start my stopwatch whenever I read to avoid going overboard and neglecting other tasks.
However, I have been making more of an effort lately to incorporate reading into my daily schedule, as my days are always just plain better when reading is involved!
That being said, I try to stay away from reading only fitness-related material. I really enjoy learning about business, so I have actually read more business books in the past year than fitness books. And I have learned a ton!
One book that I read this past month was, “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber.
This is a very popular book and one that had been recommended to me, so I was very happy when I opened it this past Christmas morning.
To keep myself on a consistent reading schedule, I am going to be doing a monthly book “review” as part of my blog. I learned a while ago that books are pretty useless unless you apply the lessons the book taught.
I put review in quotations because I am not necessarily going to critique the book, but instead just share what I learned. Specifically, I am going to share 3 main lessons/concepts from the book and discuss my thoughts and how I am going to apply it in my life.
My hope is that you get something out of it that you can use in your own life!
The 3 Things I Took Away from “The E-Myth Revisited”
#1: Spend more time working ON your business than IN your business
Gerber discussed that most businesses fail because they were started by what he calls, “Technicians”…people who love doing the day-to-day work of the business, but tend to neglect their entrepreneurial duties.
For example, I enjoy writing training programs for my clients and I intend to master this skill one day.
If I were to open a gym and my main concern was the quality of the training programs, I would probably have great training programs, but not exactly a well-run gym. Writing training programs is akin to a personal trainer’s “technician” work.
I would need to have a vision for the business and a strategy for said business to make a profit. Without that, my business would not last long.
As of right now, I handle the programming, scheduling, and billing for all of my clients (25+). This can get overwhelming and I find myself getting caught up in these daily tasks. I sometimes neglect taking the time to sit back and evaluate my business and how I can make it more efficient and effective.
This evaluation time is essential, though, to a business that is always moving forward and providing the absolute best service to their clients. I don’t want to wake up one day and be like, “Wow, I don’t know where the past 6 months of my life have gone.”
I am still trying to figure out ways to spend more time working on my business, rather than in it all the time, but carving out time just to think is one strategy I am going to employ.
#2: Have Systems…for Everything
The book used McDonald’s as the pinnacle of small business. And this wasn’t because of the product they put out or their marketing efforts or anything like that.
It was because McDonald’s has mastered the implementation of systems within their business. If you go to any of the bajillion McDonald’s around the world, you will get the exact same thing the exact same way, every time.
This is impressive when you consider the billions of people they serve. The only reason they are able to do this is because they have a system for everything they do.
How do employees at your business answer the phone when a potential client calls?
What is said when a potential client receives a tour of your facility?
How are training programs written? How are exercises selected?
These are all things that need to be taken into account when you are running a business (or in this case, a personal training studio).
Don’t you love going to a place where you can predict what will happen…and then it actually happens? We don’t think about it much…until it doesn’t happen as we hope (e.g. getting a bad haircut after getting 3 straight good ones)
That’s not a 2!
I can’t remember where I read this, but I came across a piece recently that said whenever you perform a task within your business, write down the steps you took to complete it.
This is a great piece of advice to ensure that everything has a system. When things are left to chance, chaos can ensue.
I am working hard at establishing systems for my online business, so that is as smooth of an experience as possible. It’s interesting, because I do so many things that I don’t really even think about that only I would know how to do. If I put someone else in charge for the day if I went on vacation, they would have no clue what to do.
One concept they kept coming back to in the book was franchising. They didn’t say you had to start a franchise, but that you need to think about your business as if you are going to start 500 more just like the one you have.
And take note of this statistic presented in the book,
“Over the course of one year, Business Format Franchises have reported a success rate of 95% in contrast to the 50-plus-percent failure rate of new independently owned businesses. Where 80% of all businesses fail in the first 5 years, 75% of all Business Format Franchises succeed!”
#3: Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
I am really glad the book touched on this concept toward the end, because if you have taken the time to check out this site, you will see that my main message is, “Take the Leap!”, in reference to getting out of your comfort zone. I use this slogan because I believe that results and a better life lie just outside of your comfort zone.
The E-Myth referred to the comfort zone as a curtain that needs to be pulled up. We can easily let our comfort zones seize us in fear, preventing us from taking action on things that seem scary, yet are necessary for achieving our goals.
As Gerber put it, “Comfort makes cowards of us all.”
Conclusion
If you want to learn more about how to run a successful business, I highly recommend checking this book out. I learned a lot, but more importantly, had several concepts reinforced in me that I have forgotten along the way.
Even if you don’t run your own business or don’t plan to, I still think this book is worth reading, because it provides great information on how to make your work-life balance not be 90% work and 10% life, which is something I think we can all get trapped into from time-to-time.
I hope you enjoyed my first book review! If you have read it and/or want to share your take on the book’s messages, fire away in the comments section below!
I will be back next month with a review on Phil Jackson’s new book, “Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.”
Be your best,
Kasey, CSCS
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