Beyond the eMyth – Michael Gerber [publication day review]

by Chloë Thomas

Back in 2008 I read my first business book, it was Emyth Revisited and it was a gift from franchise specialist Anne O’Rielly. Coming in my second year of running my own business it really got me thinking, and opened up a whole world that I’d known nothing about – there were people out there who you could turn to for advice about how to grow your business, and to help you through the difficult periods and frustrating challenges.

Next year (the 1st February to be exact) will be my 10th anniversary of being a business owner. Of being the boss, and not someone else’s employee. So it was with great pleasure I sat down to read Beyond the eMyth last week (yes, I was privileged to get my hands on a pre-release review copy) to find out if would help me with the next 10 years!
beyond the emyth

What is Beyond the eMyth?

  • It’s the third (and final) book in the eMyth series.
  • Full title “Beyond the E-Myth: The Evolution of an Enterprise: From a Company of One to a Company of 1,000”
  • Length: 190 pages (yup – it’s a short read)
  • It outlines an 8 step process that embraces the fundamental point of the E-Myth idea (that a small business will only succeed if you work ON the business, not just IN it), but which takes it to a whole new level.
  • Explaining the key systems that need to be built to take your idea to a business employing 1,000 people.
  • Explaining them in a way that makes the whole process seem straightforward and easy to follow.

The Key Structure of Beyond the E-Myth

Part 1 is all about establishing the idea for your business – drilled into 4 statements the Dream, Vision, Purpose, and Mission – each of which has a key role to play in the following parts.

Part 2 is about building your franchise protorype (and you don’t have to be building a franchise – it’s the theory that counts). Your Client Fulfilment System.

Part 3 if your business will succeed there needs to be a story behind it – this is all about creating that story. Great section to read if you’re struggling with your welcome sequence or about us page. Your Client Acqisition System.

Part 4 Gets into the brass tacks of building the business and the management system. Your Turnkey Management System.

Part 5 explains scaling that business into an enterprise. Your Turnkey Leadership System.

What I particularly like about Beyond the E-Myth

It stops you from putting the cart before the horse – there a certain set of tasks you should be focused on at each stage, and if you follow this model you’ll be focusing in the right place.

This includes that getting the product and fulfillment right before you ramp up marketing. Great advice if you want repeat purchases in the future.

It acknowledges that if you’re going to build a business that will scale, you have to come up with a really solid idea – that has the potential to scale. I found the section on coming up with the idea for the New Co particularly refreshing as it was all about working out what the market wants you to build, not what you want to build.

My 2 favourite sections (and those I think are more relevant to eCommerce businesses) are Part One – where you’re working out what your business should be. And Part Three because the Story is so important, and this is the best explanation for coming up with your story I’ve yet found.

A word of warning though – I found it a little hard to get into the flow of it for the first couple of chapters. But it was well worth persevering with. Of course this might have been because I was having to read it on my mobile due to the way the review copies were distributed – very much looking forward to the arrival of my hardback copy!

Get your questions answered by Michael Gerber!….

Later this month I’m going to be interviewing Michael himself for the eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast. I would LOVE to include some of your questions, so next week I’ll be asking the eCommerce MasterPlan World Facebook Group for their questions for Michael – the group is free to join, so if you want the chance to have your question asked – then get reading the book, and join the group!