By Linda Davis

The E-Myth is my all time favorite business book. Hands down. I first read the E-Myth in 1995 and it changed the way I did business. It was eye opening for me and I read it in record breaking speed, anxiously looking forward to the next chapter. I know that sounds a bit dramatic but it is true.  I always considered myself to be organized but this simple book by Michael Gerber started me down the path of developing systems for my business.  I now read this book once a year, about the same time I work on my business plan. 

The E-Myth was originally published in 1988 and replaced 8 years later by The E-Myth Revisited.  I actually liked the original book better. Gerber explains that the revisited book is a clarification of the E-Myth point of view.  Fine, but I still liked the original book better, even though I was able to have my Revisited book signed by Michael Gerber at a seminar I attended. (I found him to be a better writer than a speaker.)

The basic premise of the book is that most small business owners work "in their business" and not "on their business" as they should. The E-Myth Revisited is written with small business owners in mind but single real estate agents or team leaders can embrace the principles Gerber shares. Gerber tells stories about successful small businesses that have developed systems and built "franchise prototypes" to run their companies more efficiently.  These businesses, similar to McDonald’s, are systems dependent, not people dependent.  I call it my "getting hit by a truck" theory.  If I were "hit by a truck" tomorrow, my business should be able to run without me because of the systems I have put in place.

Although The E-Myth was originally written in 1988, the ideas presented are timeless, and every real estate agent should have this book on their real estate book shelf.  You have one of those don’t you?  With the birth of this blog, I’m taking a look at all my business books, thinning the heard and including my favorites on the bookshelf in the sidebar here.  

By the way, after I read the E-Myth the first time, I became known in the office as the "binder queen" as I developed system manuals for every aspect of the business. Since then, software programs like Agent Office are now able to launch "plans" for repeatable actions of a real estate business and eliminate the need for binders. Not able to help myself, I still have a few binders in use.

The E-Myth Revisited  is an absolute 10.  I like this book so much that I have given dozens of copies away to colleagues, either starting in business or looking to move their business to the next level.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.