The E-Myth RevisitedRecently, I’ve been reflecting on the insights on entrepreneurship and systemization presented in The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber. In this article, I’ll share how this book has influenced my perspective, the adjustments I’ve made to my business, and how you can incorporate its lessons into your own publishing ventures. I first came across this book back in college through a high school friend who decided to start his own business rather than go to college. We would meet from time to time at the local Barnes & Noble to grab a coffee and peruse the bookshelves. He couldn’t stop talking about The E-Myth. His enthusiasm made me buy a copy. Fast forward to today, I recently had an author I work with read the book and have those same “Ah Ha” moments that my old friend had. How is this book, written in the eighties, still relevant today to an indie publisher? I think it addresses the single biggest issue that all entrepreneurs face. They experience what Gerber calls the “Entrepreneurial Seizure,” a moment when you decide to turn something you do into a business. For most, this moment is when you decide to turn what used to be the job that you did for others, such as being a plumber, insurance salesperson, or interior designer, into a business you’ll do yourself. As a creator, it’s when you decide to put your creativity out in the world for others to enjoy in exchange for money. After the “Seizure,” you find yourself in a place where you are constantly navigating the tradeoffs among three distinct personalities: Technician (i.e., creator), Manager, and Entrepreneur. All want to be in charge, and each is a limiting factor to the other two. Building systemsGerber’s solution is to adopt a franchise model, in which you systematize your business. He uses the McDonald’s model, where systems deliver the same uniform product.
 Creating systems isn’t a new message if you’ve been following my content. I depart from Gerber because he directs you to build a system to reproduce specific customer outputs, where you make every widget the same. His method is a systematic process to get a repeatable output. While it is important for you to adopt a systems approach to scale a business, even a service one, and yes, you do need consistency of product, I want you to build an adaptable system. When I build a system, it’s not just to replicate specific outputs, but to combine the processes for emergent properties to manifest. Emergent properties are intrinsic benefits that are nearly impossible to create unless multiple subsystems work in concert. For authors, this means getting your readers to connect their identity with your brand and fostering a community around it. None of that has anything to do with branding or producing a book. It’s about becoming the ringmaster of an immersive reader experience. I digress. Gerber emphasizes that because three distinct personalities are trying to be the boss, you need a mediator. The E-Myth uses the systemization of what you do as a method to mediate the work between the three personalities and minimize your need to do it all. Much of the focus is getting you away from being the Technician. This is the hard part as a creator because you are the source of that creativity. You must figure out the best use of your time and systemize the rest of your routine business practices.
 A good example of how I’ve implemented this systemization in my content creation. While I’m the original source and need to do the initial creation and then review it at points, I’ve built a system that eliminates me from 90% of the process and creates a massive repurposing of the original content. Here’s an example of how I’ve systemized the content you’re reading now:
- I write newsletter emails in batches.
- They get edited in Notion.
- I approve the edits.
- My assistant uploads them to the sequence.
- She creates audio with my voice using text-to-speech.
- She loads the content in the membership area.
- She creates blogs and podcasts of the material to be released later.
The result is that the work gets magnified, and current content that people pay for becomes free content nearly two years later. The leap to bringing on an assistant and systematizing was a big one for me. I thought I wanted to keep the business small. What I really wanted was to keep it simple. That meant going through a period of bringing others in and the extra effort of passing on what seemed easier to do on my own. Here’s the kicker: my assistant is way better at doing many of these tasks than I am, and I can focus on where I add the most value. Another big idea from The E-Myth is that your business is not your life. This concept is a difficult one for most entrepreneurs to accept. Because the product is your creative work, the whole enterprise feels like your business is your life and identity. You can make it so, but it isn’t. I have seen this misperception lead to terrible decision-making as you get influenced by ego. Instead, think of your business as just another thing you create. It is designed to serve you and your customers. When taking on something as big as Author Nation, all of this matters. Even with a large group of people helping, we still need to build systems that create a reliable and repeatable outcome for everyone involved. Furthermore, if we take the time to design a system with the emergent properties of community and trust, then the experience will go far beyond what any other conference can deliver. I’ll leave you with this question: How are you creating emergent properties for your reader community? Read: Building Traction for an Effective Author Business |