By Jamie Warren, Forte President
I truly believe that to run a successful branding agency, you have to invest way more than 40 hours a week. And part of that means reading books that not only help the business, but help our clients’ businesses. So from time to time, I’ll review some of my favorite advertising, branding or business books here on our blog. Maybe it will inspire you to pick it up (or download it) yourself!
The E-myth Revisited, by Michael E. Gerber, isn’t a new book. Published in 1995, it’s a powerful look at entrepreneurialism that I believe will hold up for decades to come. Its theme? Small business owners need to work more ON the business. This is crucial if they want to transcend simply creating a job for themselves to building a real business.
What does that mean? It means getting out of the day-to-day minutia of the business – the phones don’t work, the copier’s down, emails need to be answered – and working on the big picture. The system. It means that most entrepreneurs have great ideas, but aren’t necessarily adept at actually making it scalable. They also might have trouble moving beyond what they can personally execute.
It’s not easy to get out of the weeds. It takes a concerted effort to look at the big picture. At Forte, that’s what we do for our clients in our branding engagements – we pull them out of the weeds in their business to see the big picture. We help them focus on how the business will look 3, 5, 10, 15 years down the road. You see, branding and systems are strategic cousins – you have to have a brand in place to get the right systems in place.
The E-myth Revisited is more than a story about how entrepreneurs can succeed. It’s a resource with concrete plans to implement. In fact, my biggest ah-ha moment of the book took place in chapter 5: “Beyond the Comfort Zone.” It’s imperative for a business that’s going to be successful to get out of their comfort zone and institute their brand systematically into every part of the business. I thought to myself, “Our clients need to realize that’s what they must do!” It’s a daunting endeavor, but one that must be done. The good news: we do this for clients every day.
If you own a small business (or are thinking of owning a small business), pick up The E-myth Revisited. I’d lend you mine, but you can barely see the original text with all the notes I have in the margins!
Forte Marketing Group is a Birmingham, Alabama-based branding, marketing and advertising firm that helps companies nationwide differentiate their brands. Learn more about us at www.fortemg.com
