Does it feel impossible to find and hire your people? Are the candidates you interview impressing or disappointing you? A strong team can take your small business from good to great. But you have to get the right people through the door first—and then give them the resources they need to perform well and stay happ...
When facing the unique challenges in your business, where do you even begin? In our many years of coaching business owners, we’ve learned that whatever the challenge, one thing is always true: the solution starts with you. If your business isn’t working or serving your life the way you want it to, how can you chan...
If there’s one experience, more than any other, that small business owners across every industry share, it’s how hard it is to get your people to do what you want them to do, the way you want it done. Every owner has a picture of the best way to produce results in their business. Every employee comes to your compa...
Working ON your business is the skill that every business owner needs to build to create a thriving company that doesn’t depend on you to produce results. Turning what you know how to do really well into systems—step-by-step processes—that others can use effectively is something that anyone with the desire can lea...
Every small business faces challenges. Every business owner must deal with issues and problems in the course of building and running a successful operation. In many ways though, the challenges—and advantages—in a family business are unique.
I’ve never known a business owner who didn’t feel they needed to spend more time working on their business and less time working in it. But so many find it difficult to make the time to do it. If you’re predominantly a Technician in your business, someone who spends most of your time making, selling or delivering ...
“How do I get my employees to do things the right way?” This is one of the most common questions we get from business owners. And the simplest answer is this: You need to show them what the right way—your way—is. With strong management, you design the systems your business needs to grow a high-performance team, on...
What’s your biggest business challenge? Whether it’s poor sales, employee issues or something more personal, every business owner can identify at least one pervasive problem that seems to hold the whole company back. So it’s natural to try to bring in an outside expert to help resolve your frustrations—but what ki...
Imagine what kind of workplace your business would be if your employees thought to themselves: "I’m excited about my work.” “This is a place where I can achieve my goals.” “I feel safe. It’s okay to make a mistake, and I will learn from it.” “I have some great ideas on how to improve things. I can’t wait to share ...
Business owners often come to us for help building a business model prototype—what we call a franchise prototype. They’ve read about the concept in The E-Myth Revisited and feel that it’s the key to getting what they want: a business that gets the results they desire at the standard they expect—without relying so ...
This year, I’m celebrating my 40th Anniversary at EMyth. I joined the company as an entry-level salesperson in 1982 at the age of 29. I’d just moved to northern California from the East Coast in search of a new direction after leaving a PhD program at MIT in public policy. As a graduate student, it dawned on me th...
Most companies organize around personalities rather than around functions. That is, around people rather than accountabilities or responsibilities. The result is almost always chaos.
The E-Myth Revisited proposes that owners of businesses that are not working should start again. This time they need to translate their vision into a management system, and to control their unpredictable employees through this system. I agree completely with this philosophy. My question is concerned with the pract...
Managing a business partnership may be the only thing more difficult than managing a business. Partnerships are hard for the same reasons that any relationship is hard. It takes diligence and work to bring together personalities, communication styles, and ideals. And if you want your partnership to serve your busi...
Think about your favorite product or service—one you’d return to purchase, again and again. Maybe it’s an appliance brand, your dog groomer or a local donut shop. Whatever comes to mind for you, chances are it’s not the product alone that makes it your favorite, but rather all the things that come along with it. N...
If you’ve ever had the thought that you weren’t a good leader or didn’t know how to be one, you’re not alone. Business owners rarely go into business for themselves in order to become the leader of a company. In truth, most are looking to secure a “job” where they can provide their product or service free of a bos...
Discover the five steps to improving team performance in this free guide.