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What is Business Freedom?

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:41:51 +0000

I continue with excerpts from Michael Gerber’s The Most Successful Small Business in the World. In principle Seven, Gerber talks about the freedom principle that is so much a part of small business motivation.

But now you’re the boss. And the freedom that we all believed a small business of our own creates does not happen on its own. Like all freedom, it depends on you. It requires you to change your behavior from that of an employee to that of an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur is psychologically far afield from the employee in you. He doesn’t want freedom because he already has it. He doesn’t create a small business to be free; he creates a small business to express the freedom he already posses.

In short, if the higher aim is to be realized at all, it must arise in Joseph. It must drive Joseph. It must become Joseph’s obsession…It must speak from him, and to him, whether he know how to speak so or not, whether or not he knows from where the voice comes.

Do you realize that you, the one reading this sentence right now, have been given a destiny to create a new world? You were given that even before you were born…You are called to grow beyond your comfort zone, to grow beyond your need to make a living. pp. 104-6.

In the next post, I will share how Michael proposed for us to achieve this business friend.

Your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Do You Dare to Turn Your Business Plan Upside Down?

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:46:37 +0000

Michael Gerber offers his third principle of small business success in The Most Successful Small Business in the World. He calls it the collaboration of all the parts of a business working together. What’s so special about this principle? It seems to be like a no brainer. In this post, I will share how Gerber turns this no brainer upside down. Enjoy and prosper.

When We Started our Businesses

When we started our businesses, we started from our own perspective. We started with what we wanted from our businesses. How could the business operations serve our needs? We identified how much money we needed to make from our business. It was our business. It was our baby. It was our creation.

Gerber’s Genius

What if we started instead with the market place? Who are the people we serve and what problems or needs would our business solve for them? Gerber says, “Start with the market place”. Without this starting point, we have no business or we have a business that always struggles.

I am reminded of similar thoughts from other greats in the business world. Eugene Schwartz in Breakthrough Advertising. We can never create a market. We can only tap into the desire or want that already exists. If no desire exists, we have no business.

Gary Halbert’s principle of the starving crowd. If we were to open a hamburger stand, what would be the most important ingredients to make it successful? Would it be the location; the quality of the hamburgers; customer service; the hamburger making system; the cost of the hamburgers? No, Halbert says our greatest chance of success would come from finding a hungry crowd!

Respond to the Market Place

Gerber says our second step is this market driven approach is our business idea. How will we solve this customer’s desire or problem? The strength of our business will only be as strong as our idea. Our idea needs to transforms the customer’s life around that problem we solve. This is the heart and soul of any successful business.

The Third Step

Only when we have completed these first two steps, do we organize our business functions. Our business functions are molded and shaped in response to the market place and our transforming business idea. All of the parts of a business, the marketing, the business model, the operations, the staff, the financing are created in response to the market place. It’s not about us. It’s about our response to the market place.

Conclusion

Gerber has turned upside down the approach to small business. Go to the market place to find the problem and create a bigger than life solution. Only when these two steps are completed do we start to organize our business functions.

How would we change our current business operations if we started from this market principle? How different would our business be if we changed our business to a response to the market place rather than our own business perspectives? Good questions to ask ourselves!

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Gerber–Parts of Your Business Must Collaborate Together

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:25:54 +0000

In this post, I continue with excerpts from Michael Gerber The Most Successful Small Business in the World.

Gerber’s third principle is a small business is a system in which all the parts contribute to the success or failure of the whole.

All parts of this system must be identified, taken apart (so to speak), and then reassembled in a way to collectively and collaboratively function in the production of a finer results than previously possible.

Joseph must do this. As you must do this. And he must begin to this before he goes to work on his business. He must start the beginning of his new venture with a completely new mind. He must understand that the original nature of his new work is the critical key to creating the brand.

You begin with this: Know that the system is a collaboration of parts. The parts of the system follow:

1. Parts outside of the business:

Consumer parts
Competitor parts
Channels of distribution parts
Media parts
Financial parts

2. Parts inside of the business

Strategic parts
Tactical parts
Incremental parts

In the remaining pages of this chapter, Gerber does into greater detail about the content of each of these parts.

In the next post, I will share how Gerber has taken these ordinary parts of a business and turned the common thinking upside down.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Is Your Business Idea to Make a Living???

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:26:33 +0000

Did you start your small business this way? You worked for others. You realized that you got only a small piece of the pie. Your employer may have been charging customers $50 an hour. You were getting paid, $20 per hour. You said to yourself, “Why don’t I skip the employer and make the $50 an hour myself?”

Does that sound familiar? It was part of my decision to go into business. What do most business owners actually experience? Instead of the freedom, we end of working at a job and paying ourselves as an employee. We never get the $50 per hour we dreamed about.

In Michael Gerber’s new book, The Most Successful Small Business in the World, he says the strength of a business is based on your business idea! Let me share his thoughts in this blog post. It may help us get out of the box, we find ourselves in. Enjoy and prosper.

Making a Living Idea

Start your business with the idea of making a living and that is exactly what your business becomes. Your business becomes a job. You become your own employee.

Only now, you add business worries to the time you must spend doing the work. Is it any wonder that a business idea based on making a living becomes a recipe for quitting. There is too much work to be done. There aren’t enough hours in the day. You are not getting paid what you are worth.

Your business begins to feel old, tired and run down. Many business owners end of hating their small business. They feel trapped in the business they thought would give them freedom.

The Strength of Your Business is the Idea Your Bring to It

Gerber suggests that a strong small business comes from an idea within you. If you want to avoid the employee trap, it must be more than wanting a paycheck or making a living.

What if your business idea has more to do with serving others, eliminating problems in their life, something bigger than a paycheck or a living? What if it becomes a creation, a contribution you give to the world?

Having a big idea, an idea larger than you, an idea that serves others is the key to a strong small business foundation. Why, because this bigger idea breath life into your business. It supplies energy. It demands imagination. It drives a business forward. It is bigger than you. It has a life outside of you.

Conclusion

Starting with an idea bigger than making a living may not seem radical. Yet, it makes all the difference to the energy that lives within your business. A small business is only as effective as the idea upon which it’s built. So what is your idea for your business? What will it look like? What magic will you bring to this world?

To be continued, your comments are always welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Gerber’s Second Principle–Your Business Idea!

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:09:28 +0000

Gerber’s second success principle is simple—a small business is no more effective than the idea upon which the business is built.

So let’s apply this principle to our mechanic, Joseph, and his business.

So Joseph asked himself, “What exactly will the auto repair I do be? What do I know about the business of auto repair, its trends, where people are having the most problems, what does the research say about the most significant opportunities in auto repair? What would green auto repair look like”?

And then the entrepreneur name Joseph thought about General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, all of whom were closing down their dealerships and closing down their service centers. There must be an opportunity there, thought Joseph the New Entrepreneur. “And what about all the other automobile companies?” Joseph thought. “There must be something going on there that has to be interesting? And what about all the people losing their jobs?

And what about the cost of auto repair?”

What about creating a business that teaches people how to fix their own cars? What about teaching people to fix their cars at a mere fraction of the cost of having he, Joseph, fix their cars? What if he were to do that? And how would he do that Joseph wondered next? How could he possibly teach people who didn’t know anything about cars to do it themselves? Pages 10,15

Do you see what Joseph is doing? He is starting with an idea about his business. He is not starting with a way to make a living or get a paycheck. He is starting with an idea.

And that Gerber says is the foundation of any successful small business—the idea upon which it is founded.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed.

How Would You Create 10,000 Businesses?

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:38:39 +0000

How would you approach your business today, if you had a goal of making 10,000 businesses just like the one you have now? What would you do? How would I approach my business, my new business, if my goal was to make 10,000 more businesses just like the one I have now? What would I do? Here are some of my thoughts.

If I were to create 10,000 more businesses just like my business, I would use a simple business model that could be duplicated. I would McDonaldize the business model. McDonalds has created a model that works everywhere.
I would realize I cannot do it all the work. I could be the brains of the outfit, but not he operator.
I would need to ensure there was enough demand for my business, touching the sweet spot for many people so I have the customers I need for this business.
I would perfect a system of selling and marketing. This system would not require any expertise except to follow the steps in the manual.
I would create a training program. This program would separate the good from the bad.

My business idea would need mass appeal so it could be transported to many different places. If I started with the goal of having 10,000 businesses in stead of my small business, my business would be very different from what it is now. Conclusion How would you answer the question about having 10,000 businesses just like the one you have? Most small businesses don’t grow because the business owner has a job rather than owning a business. They work as if they were technicians rather than business owners. Accept Gerber’s challenge and ask the questions of your business. To be continued, your comments are welcomed… Al Hanzal

Gerber’s 1st Principle–The Principle of 10,000

admin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:45:40 +0000

So what’s wrong with the picture of Joseph the mechanic Gerber developed in the last post? Why will Joseph’s business never grow?

Gerber suggests that without a bigger idea, Joseph will never be doing more than working for a living. He is a mechanic not a business owner. He needs something bigger than making a living. He suggests that most of us are living the life of Joseph!

Here is his suggested solution—his first principle of small business success—the rule of 10,000.

At the outset of your business venture the question must be asked, “What must I do so that my business can be scaled at 10,000 times?”

What must I do so that every action in my company can be perfectly replicated again and again…10,000 times?

What must I do so that every result in my company can be produced by 10,000 others, none of whom possesses my experience, my dedication, my skill?

Do you see the significance of these questions, my friend? By asking these questions, you have gone beyond the province of the doer. By asking them you have entered the province of the inventor.

By perusing them, you have awakened the true entrepreneur within. You are now the Henry Ford. Or Sam Walton, Or Michael Dell, Or Ray Kroc. Or Mary Kay. Or Anita Roddick. page 9.

I invite you as does Gerber to ask yourself this question. If I were to take my current business and replicate it 10,000 times, how different would that business look? What would I do differently? How would I pull this off? By asking yourself these questions, you have started the process of thinking like a business owner rather than a technician.

In the next post, I will share Gerber’s second principle of successful small businesses.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Michael Gerber’s Joseph the Mechanic…

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:43:32 +0000

A good way to understand the 10 principles of small business success is to start with the story of Joseph, the auto mechanic. Let’s start with his story as Gerber himself does.

The business next door is easier to look at than your own. The business next door was started by Joseph, the auto mechanic. Or by Mary, the cook. Or by Frederick, the chiropractor.

But let’s for the moment stick with Joseph.

He comes to work every morning, looking pretty much the same way he looked yesterday morning, and the morning before that. Joseph is more than likely dressed in his coveralls. They are well-worn coveralls. Probably still have the grease from yesterday’s or earlier days’ jobs.

On the back of his coveralls it might say something like “Joseph’s Auto Repair.” What else would it say? Because, of course, that’s what Joseph does, and has done for years. Joseph fixes cars. Joseph has always fixed cars, either for someone else or for himself.

Joseph could be, for all you know, a fine mechanic. At least it seems like he could. Of course he may not be, but its’ unlikely you’ll know. There are a lot of cars sitting in the lot waiting for Joseph to fix them. But, it doesn’t seem to make much difference to Joseph.

People come and people go, but for all you can tell, Joseph isn’t in any hurry, even though his customers seem to be. Even though his customers seem to want their car done, and done now, Joseph isn’t in a hurry. But, Joseph has seen just about everything one could see when it comes to fixing cars. Cars bread down. Cars get fixed. And the clock goes on, just like before.

Joseph is actually quite lucky. If predictability can be thought of as lucky, that is. Because, no matter what Joseph does or does not do, his business seems to continue apace, one car after another, waiting for Joseph to do what Joseph does, fix cars.

The clock ticks on and on. And Joseph gets older. If you could span the time, if you could see if from above; if you could watch Joseph from another perspective, see the whole story of Joseph’s life, you would know something you don’t know now.

Joseph long ago stop growing. Joseph long ago went to sleep. Joseph is simply going through the motions. Josephs fixes cars. End of Joseph’s story.

Page 8.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Excerpts from The Most Successful Small Business in the World

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:20:19 +0000

You have probably been told, as I have been told, that if you build your business on what you love to do, your business will be a success. Read this excerpt from The Most Successful Small Business in the World as Michael Gerber takes a different twist on that piece of business wisdom. Getting the love principle mixed up, maybe the very reason so many business owners fail.

Love has nothing to do with it. I imagine that you could make a case for it. But, I can’t, and I never could. Work for the sake of work is ultimately an exhausting enterprise. All pain, no gain. Always, the cart before the horse. Where’s the magic, after all?

Not, mind you that you shouldn’t do what you love, if you can. But you shouldn’t attempt to build a business out of it.

More importantly, this book says that instead of doing what you love, you should love what you do. Do it and love it, provided that it makes sense, that is, provided that it is much bigger than just something you love. Provided that it is something that your customers love, that your employers love, and that the community in which you do business loves. Provided that your business is a lovable, wonderful loving thing. A remarkable, beautiful, capable, competent…oh well, you get my point. Love what you do, and it will love you back. And everything you put into it, your time, your energy, your money, your imagination, your seat, your purpose, your commitment, your determination—all of that will be called a labor of love.

For all of this to happen, and it will, as you’ll discover in this book—this business of yours has to make sense. Chapter One, page 4.

To Be Continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal

Michael Gerber’s New Book

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:13:01 +0000

If you have followed my articles over the years, you know that I’m a huge fan of Michael Gerber and his E-Myth books. (Not an affiliate) The core message of those books was work on your business not in your business; act as a business owner, not as a technician.

Now Michael has written a new book, The Most Successful Small Business in the World, that is even more profound. In the next several posts I will share some excerpts from the beginning pages of his book. See if you recognize yourself in these descriptions. I know I did and was grateful for the answers that Michael offered in his book. This book will teach you how to brand yourself and much more. Enjoy and prosper.

Michael Gerber The Most Successful Small Business in the World

Only an infinitesimal number of new business owners start their new business with a notion of size other than the word “small”. And that’s why their businesses never grow beyond their notion.

Most businesses, no matter their age, remain adamantly small.

Note that 70 percent of all companies and 100 percent of home businesses are sole proprietorships. One person, or two and that’s all, operating the business. These businesses are populated by owners working for a living. They are working at a job and nothing more. But of course that’s all they ever wanted to do. All they ever wanted to do was to create a job; to create control over their personal income; to create a place to work, a place to do what they know who to do. Or, if not that, to do something anything, through which they can turn their labor and ideas into money. In short, they wanted to be self-employed.

Needless to say, these commercial activities are not businesses at all not in the context we speak of here. They are gardeners gardening. They are architects bending over their boards. They are therapists tending to their flocks. They are rabbis teaching. They are doers doing what doers do. They are what they are, but nothing more than that. What they do seems to be how they are defined.

In E-Myth terms, they are technicians suffering from entrepreneurial seizures. And lots of attention is spend on them. Time spent teaching them how to organize, to market, to sell, to network, to do their bookkeeping, to get by. They are told that the idea of going out of their own is to do what they love. And once having done that, everything else will come their way.

To be continued, your comments are welcomed…

Al Hanzal