I have just finished reading the E-Myth Revisited again and wanted to share some insights that I believe every small business owner can benefit from.

Why did you start your own small business?

Chances are when you went into business for yourself it was prompted by the feeling that you wanted to follow your passion or area of expertise. You were probably working for someone else doing some sort of work where you were the expert.

No doubt you thought you had the expertise to go into business for yourself. Life coach, accountant, dog walker, osteo, Beauty Salon owner or whatever. Once that idea got into your head, you where bit by the bug. You had to start your own business. As the E-Myth a must read book explains, most small businesses that fail make this mistake or assumption.

The party is over!

That assumption is " if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work." There is so much more to a business that actually getting the work done. When this realisation hits, you as the business owner can do a couple of things. 1. Work incredibility long hours trying to do all the things to make your business work and become enslaved to the business. 2. Fold up the business because it all becomes to hard and you can't cashflow the business.

"Every year, over 500,000 people start a business of some sort. By the end of the first year, at least 40% of them will be out of business. Within 5 years, more than 80% of them—400,000 people—will have failed!" E-Myth Revisited

And, if your business has managed to survive for 5 years or more, don’t breathe a sigh of relief. More than 80% of the enterprises that survive the first 5 years will fail in the second 5 years.

3. Work out a system that allows you to work on the business as much as in the business so you can direct and control the life-cycle of your small business and grow in a strategic way.

Work on your business not in it!

Are you doing the wrong work in your business? Are you still the expert providing all the service and not navigating your business being that entrepreneur that thinks about how to get things done better, faster, in a more predictable way that will delight and even surprise customers?

How to balance the three jobs we have as small business owners.

You need to learn how to get the work done, how to run the business not do the work. This is a mind shift. The E-Myth Revisited talks about the three personalities we have when running a business and that when in balance we have a business that is sustainable, profitable and enjoyable.

The Entrepreneur

The Entrepreneur is the visionary part of our personality as a business owner. It is the part that is happiest in the future. Planning what our ultimate business will be. I spend a lot of time here. It is where I am happiest. I see lots of possibilities and am constantly looking of new ways to do things in my small business. My love of technology is often the catalyst.

The Manager

The Manager is the practical part of our personality as a business owner. Order, planning and predictability is a managers goal. Living in the past, looking for order and systems to improve processes.

The Technician or Expert

The Expert is the doer of the business. Living in the here and now executing things.

According to E-Myth the average business owner has a make up of "10% Entrepreneur, 20% Manager and 70% Technician." You can see the problem with this mix.

Creating what E-Myth calls a "Turn Key System" or a Franchise blueprint is important but it is important in terms of being able to:

1. Run your business more efficiently and effectively

2. To free you up to work on your business and not in it

3. To set up an effective framework for growth

The missing piece of this "Turn Key System" is the big part of attracting customers in a consistent reliable way. This is often small businesses sticking point. Now with the advent of social media and the web the mediums have increased and so it becomes even more confusing about what strategy to use to attract customers.

The Simple Marketing System and the consulting helps small business with this greatest challenge. We provide a systematic approach to marketing your business. It is a strategic approach that gives you control over the lead generation so that you can concentrate on the other parts of running your business.

Sound good? To find out more click here.