Join getAbstract to access the summary!

The E-Myth Revisited

Join getAbstract to access the summary!

The E-Myth Revisited

Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

HarperBusiness,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Create your own business by overcoming false myths about entrepreneurs, businesses, marketing and strategic development.

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Business owners typically learn about corporate pitfalls the hard way. After falling into a professional pit, entrepreneurs are forced to yank themselves up by their fraying bootstraps. Fortunately, Michael E. Gerber provides a well-written tutorial about business plans, strategic growth and employee management. He delivers an elegant dose of reality with strategic examples, concrete numbers and marketing insights. At times, some of the examples and scenarios are a bit sappy and repetitive, but the book scores points for delivering difficult lessons in bite-sized portions. getAbstract recommends this book to entrepreneurs and other dreamers.

Summary

False Bill of Goods

A false system is cheating small business owners. Quite frankly, the owners of small corporations spin their wheels performing the wrong type of work. Basically, the returns they earn from their businesses fall dramatically short in relation to their investment of time and energy. The numbers don't lie: Each year, more than a million people launch new businesses in the United States. Unfortunately, within 12 months, 40% of those start-ups close. And after five years, more than 80% (roughly 800,000) no longer exist. Most entrepreneurs are victims of their own fictions, fantasies and lack of knowledge. They govern themselves according to four concepts:

  1. The Myth of the Entrepreneur – This false idea, the "E-Myth," states that people launch start-up companies because of the entrepreneurial spirit – the desire to create profits from investment capital. In fact, people start businesses for many reasons, but entrepreneurship doesn't have that much impact.
  2. "Turn-Key Revolution" – The franchise movement generated this wave of change, enabling an entrepreneur who buys a license to become ...

About the Author

Michael E. Gerber, chairman, CEO and founder of E-Myth Worldwide, is the author of The E-Myth. Gerber has re-engineered operating strategies for more than 25,000 small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Comment on this summary