Let’s be honest. It’s been another challenging year for the owners and operators of small businesses. You’ve had to find a new normal as Covid restrictions eased. The prices of goods and services you depend on to operate have shot up, often cutting into already thin margins. Your employees are looking to you for r...
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...
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...
The phrase “Work On It, Not Just In It” has been part of business vernacular for more than 35 years, ever since Michael Gerber coined it in The EMyth Revisited. Its message speaks to so many entrepreneurs who can’t see any other way to do business than to build a business around their own ability to get things don...
As 2021 winds down, I’m sure you’re reflecting on how your business has done this year and what you want to achieve in 2022. I’m reflecting quite a bit. I’ve spent the last 2+ months working with EMyth’s leadership team on our annual ritual to build our strategic plan for next year. The process always reminds me h...
If we’ve learned anything at EMyth worth teaching business owners, it’s that the systems you build—if they’re to create real value—need to generate consistent, predictable results. Consistency and predictability eliminate chaos, reduce stress, drive growth and make it possible to build a business that doesn’t depe...
If you’re fortunate enough to have taken your company on a journey through all of its highs and lows for 5, 10, even 20 years or more, chances are you’ve had those moments when you wished your business weren’t so damn dependent on you. No matter what you’ve achieved, most business owners know in their heart that i...
As you grow your business, it’s hard enough to know when it’s the right time to bring on that next employee or how to compensate them. When you add benefits to the equation, these employment questions are among the most complicated issues business owners have to address. Benefits can be expensive. It’s easy to fee...
Last April, like many of you, I applied for the first round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds. My company had taken an immediate hit in revenue from the shock of the pandemic, and there was no certainty that it would rebound anytime soon. The only point of comparison I had was the 2009 financial crisis, a...
Just like so many of you, my company’s been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Since the end of February, I’ve woken up every morning relieved that today wasn’t the day I had to ask our Team to take a pay cut. Layoffs have been out of the question except as the last possible resort—and I’m just glad we haven’t re...
Here we are at the beginning of a new year (and a new decade!)—an incredible moment that offers the opportunity to metaphorically wipe the slate clean and start fresh. And what if you really could start fresh, start anew? What if this were the year you could achieve the dream we know so many business owners have, ...
Okay—let’s say you’ve taken all the necessary steps to build a self-sustaining business. You’ve made a clear decision to do it, and you’ve let your desire build. You’ve let go of unproductive beliefs and are thinking like an Entrepreneur. You’ve come to see your business as a process designed to produce a desired ...