BNET Video

Special Reports

Now Playing:

How to Create a Relevant Small Business

Michael Gerber, best-selling author of 'The E-Myth' talks about the secret ingredients to small business success. He says there are two important questions to ask when starting out, is the business scalable and is the business transformational.

10 Comments

See Full Transcript

Tags: Small Business, Michael Gerber, The E-Myth

 
Reply to Story

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

  •  
    1

    hgregor

    10/29/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    Utter crap despite his use of the 'S' word.

  •  
    2

    SalzM

    10/29/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    BNET, I think the info you post is generally very good, but OMG! Why would you add this video to your site? This guy is a complete jerk. He reminds me of the old charlatans from the movies, you know those guys selling water (or other substances) in a bottle that will make a bald man grow hair again! Even his outfit is dead-on, I give him credit for pulling off the full effect!

    Small business is just that - "small" - and a lot of people who start small businesses do so because they need a little extra cash or they just LOVE what they do!

    So this man is essentially telling us that the craftsman who makes beautiful one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture shouldn't bother because his business isn't scalable? A painter shouldn't bother lifting a brush because his business isn't scalable? (Tell that to Lucian Freud who in 2008 sold his "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" painting for $33 million! ? OK, it?s not a pretty painting, but you get the idea.)

    So please, screen your videos and be a little more stringent with your selections.

  •  
    3

    mliebman@...

    10/29/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    His book E-Myth is worth reading. This video was worthless, repetitive and a waste of time.

  •  
    4

    Philly Frog

    10/29/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    This video is not worthwhile. He has the idea that every entrepreneur must have a world changing idea and change the planet. This is rarely true. He insists that they must be fanatical about growth, and have scalable and transformational business models. None of these are true either. He also has a problem with limiting himself to proper language. This video is also offensive. I know nothing about his book.

  •  
    5

    Chris.MWTI

    10/30/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    First of all, never take business advice seriously from someone who is wearing a Panama hat.

    Maybe it's just because I only heard parts of this, but is he saying that if a small business doesn't want to enter the international market to "pack it up now"? Crazy talk....

  •  
    6

    SalesTrainer

    11/02/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    I disagree with the premise of this video. It is critically important that a business (a small business) knows EXACTLY what it wants - and wants its market to be. The speaker assumes that ever small business owner wants their business to become the next Google, Wal-Mart, etc - a giant company with giant problems. I think he misses the main question: What do you want to be? There is nothing wrong with wanting to stay small and have significant impact rather than becoming large and diluted and useless. That isn't always the result - but you need to know exactly what you want to be and do.

  •  
    7

    sorensong@...

    11/03/09 | Report as spam

    If you don't want to grow?

    Idiot. What business doesn't want to grow? This guys IS a jerk.

  •  
    8

    wsargent@...

    11/04/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    It might help to understand the context from which Gerber is speaking. The subtitle of his book is "Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It."

    I read his book when I started my small business in 2002. I love my work (I'm an great implementer), but it took a while to realize that what Gerber has to say are inconvenient truths.

    For me, SalzM (above) makes the counter-argument best, but Gerber is not saying all small businesses need to "go global or go home". I think he is saying entrepreneurs who do not design and align their business optimally will waste far more time and energy than they generally realize. It may not kill the business, but it can make that business a miserable place to work.

    I meet a lot of small business owners who would like to grow their business. Most have tried, failed and gone back to solo work. It's hard, and one needs to understand and apply the principles Gerber is trying to get across in a few short minutes here.

  •  
    9

    Chris.MWTI

    11/05/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    BNET, I'm sorry to be negative, but this is the *third time* you've sent a link to this video as an alert to my Inbox. Just about all of the comments here are stating that not only do your readers not find Gerber's presentation useful, they find it offensive.

    I understand that you may hold Mr. Gerber in high regard (he is, after all, a best seller) but you need to cut your losses and accept that this just isn't going over well with your audience. And sending multiple alerts about it won't change people's minds.

  •  
    10

    jkveen

    11/05/09 | Report as spam

    RE: How to Create a Relevant Small Business

    I am happy to see the other comments posted regarding this video. Not only does it not contain any relevant content, I have been taught if you have to use profanity to describe something you a) must not have a good product or service or b) you have a terrible handle on the English language.

Please add your comment:
  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  4.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

advertisement
advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement
How to Create a Relevant Small Business

Michael Gerber, best-selling author of 'The E-Myth' talks about the secret ingredients to small business success. He says there are two important questions to ask when starting out, is the business scalable and is the business transformational.

>> If you're going to be the most successful small business in the world. Now, understand I don't mean that everybody here in the room truly desires to grow, but understand if you don't truly desire to grow you might as well pack it up now. Please write that down if you don't want to grow pack it up now. You're not in business you're jerking around. Here me if you don't want to grow pack it up now. In fact, don't even come to the breakout because I'll just say it again. If you don't want to grow pack it up now. Creating a company, being an entrepreneur is about growth. Understand if you're doing something significant and if you're not doing something significant, what, pack it up now. Because if you don't want to grow and you're not doing something significant you're not doing something significant enough to want to grow pack it up now. But if you're doing something significant then, of course, you would want to grow because you'd want to reach every single human being on the face of the earth to do this significant thing that you've created this company to do. Write this question down. What is the significant thing my company is here to do? Two absolutely essential ingredients of the eMyth, two essential ingredients of your life and my life, two essential ingredients for any entrepreneur anywhere on the face of this earth are is it scaleable and is it transformational? If it's not scaleable stop doing it and if it's not transformational what the hell's the point? Transformational mean you're gonna transform people's lives not you're gonna change them. Transformational mean that you're not just interested in selling shit you're interested in doing something bigger than shit. You're interested in doing something significant. That's the essence of eMyth. eMyth is the entrepreneurial myth and it essentially says the reason most small businesses don't work, hear this, most small businesses not only don't work they don't stay alive to work they go away. All of this energy, all of this time, all of this commitment, all of this zeal, all of this networking, all of this talking, all of these cards, all of these Twitters and whatever the hell it is, all of that means nothing, busy, busy, busy, busy doing it, doing it, doing it, doing it unless something significant is going to come out of it. And the something significant that's gonna come out of it that transformational thing at the heart of it must be scaleable. You must be able to do it here and you must be able to do it there and you must be able to do it there and you must be able to do it there, you must be able to, you must be able to, you must be able to, you must be able and you must have that in mind at the very first day, the very first moment that you begin to open your entrepreneurial eyes, come awake and say holy shit what am I here to do? You're not just here to create some wiz bang thing you're here to create something that has meaning.

Sound effect

==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====