Professional Documents
Culture Documents
9/15/08
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Table of Content
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What did you discover?......................................................................................................................12
Did you complete the Results Listing Worksheet?.............................................................................13
What work you can delegate that will make more time for doing the strategic work..........................13
The principle of SYSTEMIZATION ....................................................................................................13
What happens to your business if it’s people dependent?.................................................................13
How does systemization take away the fear of losing a key employee? ...........................................13
Do you find that it is difficult giving your customers a consistent experience?...................................13
Key Frustrations Process – Supports Systemization & Strategic Thinking ........................................14
What is the purpose of the Key Frustrations Process? ......................................................................14
How do you see using this strategic tool in the future?......................................................................14
Did you test out the Key Frustrations Process on any current problems? What was the result?......14
“System Action Plans” – Supports Ongoing Systemization ...............................................................14
Why should you document your business systems? .........................................................................14
Was learning about the Action Plan Template helpful? .....................................................................15
Did you download and try using the Action Plan Template Worksheet? What was your experience?
...........................................................................................................................................................15
The principle of BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................................15
Did you think of the term “business development” differently before going through E-Myth
Essentials?.........................................................................................................................................15
Why do you think ongoing business development is important? .......................................................15
Seven Centers of Management Attention..........................................................................................16
How do you see using the Seven Centers of Management Attention?..............................................16
How can you use this business development model to evaluate your business?..............................16
What did the Business Assessment show you about these centers of your business?.....................17
Which centers are the weakest?........................................................................................................17
Which centers are the strongest? ......................................................................................................17
Chapter 3: Leadership............................................................................................................................18
Leadership............................................................................................................................................18
Before going through Essentials, did you have a vision for your business written down? .................18
Knowing the definition of leadership now, do you: .............................................................................18
Primary Aim..........................................................................................................................................18
What was your experience of discovering your Primary Aim? ...........................................................18
Do you feel you uncovered it? ...........................................................................................................18
What challenges/obstacles/questions did you face during this process? ..........................................19
Why does E-Myth start with your Primary Aim as the first exercise in Leadership? ..........................19
Strategic Objective ..............................................................................................................................19
Were you able to write a Strategic Objective for your business?.......................................................19
Why does having a document like this matter?..................................................................................19
Chapter 4: Marketing, Money and Management ..................................................................................20
Marketing, Money and Management ..................................................................................................20
MARKETING:........................................................................................................................................20
Before Essentials, what would you have said is the role of marketing in your business?..................20
Do you engage in ongoing marketing analysis? ................................................................................20
Do you have systems in your business that allow you to capture customer information regularly? ..20
Do you have a “positioning strategy” for your business? ...................................................................20
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MONEY: ................................................................................................................................................21
Do you worry about money? In what way? .......................................................................................21
Do you have good financials systems? Do you generate and read your reports regularly? .............21
MANAGEMENT: ...................................................................................................................................21
What do you think about the E-Myth approach to management? ......................................................21
What is meant by developing your business as if you were to franchise it? ......................................22
Do you have an updated organizational chart? What purpose does it serve?..................................22
What did you think about creating “Position Agreements” (versus job descriptions)? .......................22
Chapter 5: Client Fulfillment, Lead Conversion and Lead Generation ..............................................23
Client Fulfillment, Lead Conversion and Lead Generation..............................................................23
CLIENT FULFILLMENT: .......................................................................................................................23
Why is the Client Fulfillment center the “heart of your business?” .....................................................23
Do you feel that your product strategy and design fulfill your customer’s needs and expectations?
How do you know?.............................................................................................................................23
Have you created reliable fulfillment systems for product, delivery and service? ..............................23
LEAD CONVERSION:...........................................................................................................................24
Did you find yourself thinking differently about “sales” after reading the Lead Conversion chapter? 24
Do get consistent result with your current sales process? .................................................................24
LEAD GENERATION: ...........................................................................................................................24
Do you think your lead generation materials are effective? How do you know?...............................24
Does your lead generation materials set a positive tone and create a good first impression? ..........24
After completing Essentials, do you see the importance of aligning all of the processes from these
three centers? ....................................................................................................................................24
Does your business do a good job at that?........................................................................................25
Chapter 6: Systems Strategy.................................................................................................................26
System Strategy...................................................................................................................................26
Why should you create a “systems strategy” for your business?.......................................................26
What the best approach to take to identify your business systems? .................................................26
Conclusion: E-Myth Essentials .............................................................................................................27
Essentials Conclusion and Next Steps .............................................................................................27
How did going through E-Myth Essentials help you understand your business better? ....................27
Would you like to be able to continue working ON your business? ...................................................27
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Session Outline for E-Myth Essentials
The following session outline provides a tool to effectively engage in discussions about the E-Myth
Essentials Live program. It contains exploratory questions you can use to help gauge the impact and
understanding of the E-Myth Essentials program content with your clients.
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Client Engagement Guide for E-Myth Essentials
Result: To understand what the client has gained as a result of completing E-Myth Essentials
and where they could benefit from continuing on to complete the Embark Live program.
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The Business Assessment
Purpose: To provide an objective and informative tool for self-evaluation of personal
leadership traits and current business operations.
Result: A client can objectively see areas of strength and weakness and receive practical
recommendations for how to improve. They can use the tool to benchmark future
improvements.
What did you find out about your business? (Leadership, Marketing, Money, Management,
Which Center(s) are the strongest? The Client Fulfillment, Lead Conversion or Lead
weakest? Generation)
How can you see using the Business Many people use the Assessment as a
Assessment tool again in the future? benchmarking tool and take it again in six
months after completing the Embark Live
program.
For example, in Embark Live, you will work
through each of the Seven Centers in depth
and work on creating your strategy and
implementing key business systems.
It is a wonderful tool that you can use to see
the improvements and progress you make after
engaging in more of the E-Myth business
development process.
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Chapter 1: The Entrepreneurial Myth
Did you identify with the Entrepreneurial Many small business owners identify because
Myth and the fatal assumption? they started by being an expert “technician”
who was working for someone else and then
decided to leave and go open up their own
business doing that technical work.
Many people just “bought themselves a job” or
became self employed.
They now know that that is not the same thing
as having a true “business.”
Do you see yourself more comfortable in the The technician is the doer; producing the daily
role of a technician, a manager, or an results (delivers the product or service) inside
entrepreneur? Why? the business.
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How can you leverage the understanding of For example, a “technician-run business” ends
the three different mindsets to achieve up being dependent on the owner because
balance and success in your business? they start and continue to do all of the technical
work of the business, which keeps them from
being able to grow beyond a certain point.
By contrast, an “entrepreneurial-run business”
could be losing clients because they are so
focused on the changing marketplace or
creating new innovations within their business.
It becomes essential for a business owner to
find the balanced mindset of all three
perspectives so the entrepreneur’s innovative
ideas and business services can be carried out
through the use of defined systems and
mentoring people to manage the operations to
fulfill on the daily and technical work of the
business.
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Chapter 2: The Solution
Why are the Five Core Principles important Embracing these principles will shift the
to achieving business success and fulfillment mindset of a “technician business owner” to the
as an owner? mindset of an entrepreneur.
They remind and guide you to think differently
about how to build a business that works and
how they lead it more effectively.
“How you think about business is how you end
up doing business” is a core part of the E-Myth
solution.
How can you practice the Five Core If you continue on and take the Embark Live
Principles each day? program you will be using all of these principles
to successfully and strategically work ON your
business.
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The principle of LIFE
Exploratory Questions: Suggested Responses:
Why did you start your business? Did you want more time…more money… more
freedom? A business should be a vehicle for
Does it support your life in every way more life. It should:
possible?
Enable you, the owner, to take vacations,
pursue hobbies and spend time with family
and friends.
Provide the financial rewards you are
looking for.
Support choices for your future.
Do you ever feel like you bought yourself a This is true for many small business owners.
job? Because they still do most of the technical
work, the business is set up to be dependent
on them. They can’t even the business or it will
not function.
Or for many, because there are no systems,
others rely on them always being there to
answers questions or provide daily supervision.
Therefore, employees aren’t fully empowered,
trained and mentored to run the systems.
In order for this to happen, what is the first You must start working ON your business (not
thing you would have to do? just IN it)
One way to start working ON your business is
to do the Embark Live program. It guides you
through a holistic business development
system organized around E-Myth’s Seven
Centers of Management Attention.
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The principle of LEADERSHIP
After going through Essentials, do you think Most small business owners don’t see
about leadership differently? themselves as leaders.
Since many are still fulfilling a technical role in
the business, they haven’t had the opportunity
to fully develop leadership and entrepreneurial
management skills.
Do you have a vision for you business? It is essential for a leader to have a clear vision
of where the business is going – how the
business will look, act and feel at some point in
the future.
That vision needs to support what you want in
life – how you want to live.
A clear vision also provides your employees
with purpose and enthusiasm.
Have you thought about the difference The entrepreneur sees the business as the
between working IN a business and working product -- they go to work ON the business, not
ON a business before? in it.
How does this idea affect how you approach Working ON it, means spending the majority of
your business? your time doing strategic work – creating a
“turn-key operation” that delivers a consistent,
experience for your customers and a verifiable
result (profitability) for you, the owner.
This principle also keeps you focused on the
end game so you create a business that has
value -- something you expand and then sell to
others or pass on to a family member.
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Did you complete the Results Listing (Personal Responses)
Worksheet?
What work you can delegate that will make
more time for doing the strategic work?
What happens to your business if it’s people Many small business owners live in fear of
dependent? losing a key employee because the business
can’t run without that person (they carry the
system of how to do the work in their head.)
In order to grow and expand a business
successfully, it can not be people-dependent.
How does systemization take away the fear If you have your systems written down
of losing a key employee? (documented) then you can easily train others
to do that work. For owners, they can begin to
delegate work to others.
Do you find that it is difficult giving your This is the other important reason for systems.
customers a consistent experience? The only way to provide a consistent customer
experience is to build the system to deliver that
experience. Then you don’t have to worry that
your people will do it differently. Your
employees will be trained on the standard
experience your clients come to expect.
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Key Frustrations Process – Supports Systemization & Strategic Thinking
What is the purpose of the Key Frustrations To help people learn to think differently about
Process? daily frustrations and problems. To see
frustrations as opportunities.
All problems and frustrations are the result of
missing systems. You automatically ask:
“what system is missing in the business that is
allowing this frustration to occur?”
It is a strategic tool that supports ongoing
systemization and business development.
Most managers think people are the cause of
frustrations and ask, “who caused this
problem?” When you take that approach, you
find workplaces filled with blame, low morale
and high turnover.
This process removes all blame by placing
emphasis on the systems, not people. That
creates a highly productive workplace.
How do you see using this strategic tool in If you use and teach this process to all your
the future? employees, they will be able to engage in
developing the business alongside you.
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Having a template (a process and a tool) to
Was learning about the Action Plan
document the systems is essential. It makes it
Template helpful?
possible for all managers and employees to
participate and to maintain its operations
manuals.
Did you download and try using the Action (Personal Response)
Plan Template Worksheet? What was your
experience?
Did you think of the term “business Many people think business development is
development” differently before going like sales and equate it to growing the
through E-Myth Essentials? business. This happens because the term is
often used by sales departments
Now you see that business development is an
ongoing process that you engage in to
continuously improve the business.
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Seven Centers of Management Attention
Purpose: To provide a business model and strategic management tool that serves as a
roadmap for how to evaluate and develop any business.
Result: Learning how to use this business development model builds confidence, develops
skills for how to successfully manage and develop (systematize) the core business activities
and functions.
How can you use this business development This model provides a roadmap and a
model to evaluate your business? systematic approach to evaluate your business.
You can go center by center and analyze your
current systems and strategies.
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What did the Business Assessment show (Personal Response)
you about these centers of your business?
Which centers are the weakest? The Embark Live program takes you through
each of the Seven Centers in detail. It helps
you analyze your business and develop new
strategies and implement missing systems.
Which centers are the strongest? It takes you step-by-step through the E-Myth
business development system. It provides
business owners with a way to improve their
businesses.
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Chapter 3: Leadership
Leadership
Purpose: To introduce the three components of leadership: Vision, Action and Spirit and
remind small business owners that they must be effective leaders.
Results: Examination of personal leadership and a call to develop a vision for their life
(Primary Aim and Personal Objectives) and a vision for their business (Strategic Objective).
Knowing the definition of leadership now, do You must have a vision or the purpose of your
you: business is limited and seems like no more
than a tyranny of routine and busyness.
Feel you are taking actions every day
that are steadily moving you towards How you act and respond to things sets the
your vision? tone in your business.
Set an example for others that is positive Your people will reflect back to you the spirit of
and inspiring? the business. It is your responsibility to infuse
it with inspiring communication and a clear
Have a sense of optimism and the
direction.
sufficient energy to lead your people and
your business?
Primary Aim
Purpose: To provide a process for discovering your true passion and life’s purpose; writing it
down provides you with ongoing inspiration.
Result: Discovering your Primary Aim will enhance your life by aligning your innermost
desires with your outer actions and choices. It empowers you to live with intention and gives
you a sense of personal fulfillment.
Do you feel you uncovered it? If yes…great. How does it feel to read it?
If no…
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What challenges/obstacles/questions did Don’t worry. The Primary Aim process can
you face during this process? take some time. It is important to remember
that it is not focused on business, but rather on
you. The most important thing is to make a
commitment to keep looking for your Primary
Aim after the course.
Why does E-Myth start with your Primary Knowing what you’re passionate about and the
Aim as the first exercise in Leadership? greater purpose or intention for your life needs
to be supported by your business.
Then you can generate total commitment to
developing your business because it supports
your life and the two are in synch.
Strategic Objective
Purpose: To clearly articulate the client’s vision for the future (Strategic Objective) and how
their business is going to support their life. Their Strategic Objective provides purpose,
motivation and a sense of direction to all employees within the business.
Result: one to two page narrative that describes what the business will be when the vision is
fully realized. It has key elements such as: line of products or services, company growth and
size, markets served and other unique brand characteristics.
Why does having a document like this Having a clear vision provides direction and
matter? meaning for everyone working in the business.
Seeing how it will grow and develop (having a
clear roadmap) will build confidence by helping
you envision future success.
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Chapter 4: Marketing, Money and Management
MARKETING:
Do you have systems in your business that Most businesses can capture demographic
allow you to capture customer information information easily through the use of databases
regularly? that store customer records (zip codes,
purchase history, age, income, etc.).
Gathering psychographic data is more
challenging. This is information of why your
target market buys from you and how they
make decisions about certain products or
services.
Do you have a “positioning strategy” for your This is critical if you want to help your business
business? stand out from the competition.
Embark Live has an extensive module on
Marketing. It teaches you all about marketing,
plus you analyze your customers and target
markets, develop a positioning strategy, look at
branding, and create marketing systems for
your business.
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MONEY:
MANAGEMENT:
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What is meant by developing your business The idea of the “franchise prototype” is having
as if you were to franchise it? a business that is systems dependent, not
people dependent. If you are a franchise, you
can’t rely on people otherwise you can’t open
up multiple locations and deliver the same
product or service consistently.
Hiring good people is also important, so after
you have your systems in place, you turn your
attention to who needs to run the systems.
Do you have an updated organizational The “org chart” is the best way to show who’s
chart? What purpose does it serve? accountable for what and the overall structure
of the business.
Position Agreements are much more effective
What did you think about creating “Position than job descriptions because they tie each
Agreements” (versus job descriptions)? individual to the overall company goals and
vision of the Strategic Objective by writing a
“results statement” versus a “job objective.”
Position Agreements also communicate how
the work should be done. Creating “standards”
is a key part of eliminating people problems.
The center of Management is critical to the
success of your business. Embark Live shows
you how to develop a system and
organizational strategy, create position
agreements and build a hiring system and
more.
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Chapter 5: Client Fulfillment, Lead Conversion and Lead
Generation
CLIENT FULFILLMENT:
Why is the Client Fulfillment center the This is where your customers interact directly
“heart of your business?” with your business – where they receive the
product or service.
What is their experience? Can you describe
your customer promise?
Do you feel that your product strategy and After they open, many businesses stop
design fulfill your customer’s needs and analyzing their products and services looking
expectations? How do you know? for any gaps in what they offer and what their
customers want.
You must keep asking “how can we make our
product or service of greater value to our
customers?” Then if you have created good
fulfillment systems, it is a matter of looking at
the feasibility of innovating.
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LEAD CONVERSION:
Did you find yourself thinking differently In many businesses, so much emphasis is
about “sales” after reading the Lead places on “making sales.” This attitude often
Conversion chapter? makes the customer invisible and their needs
are forgotten in trying “make a sale.”
Do get consistent result with your current If not, then you need to re-think how you see
sales process? this important activity.
Embark Live can help you create and
implement a Lead Conversion process that
builds on understanding customer perceptions
and needs (what you learned in Marketing) and
how they make purchase decisions.
This approach creates customers for life and
takes the pressure out of just “making a sale.”
Think like a customer, you can tell the
difference when a business has your best
interest in mind.
LEAD GENERATION:
Do you think your lead generation materials If you track both the lead generation “channel”
are effective? How do you know? and the “message” then you will know exactly
what prospects respond to and why.
If you fail to measure both, you may be wasting
a lot of money and attracting the wrong people
to your business (which is why sales can be so
difficult).
Does your lead generation materials set a You can measure this by the percentage of
positive tone and create a good first responses you get and the number of people
impression? you convert to customers.
After completing Essentials, do you see the The more consistency between all of these
importance of aligning all of the processes processes, the more customers you will attract
from these three centers? and retain.
If you can get a consumer’s attention (lead
generation), then you convert them easily into a
customer (lead conversion), then you must
fulfill their needs with your product or service
better than the competition. This will create
customers for life (client fulfillment).
(Personal Response)
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Does your business do a good job at that? If you are having problems with lead
generation, then you need to go back to your
marketing center.
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Chapter 6: Systems Strategy
System Strategy
Purpose: To help business owners understand why it is important to develop a systems
strategy and how to go about designing one for their business.
Result: A set of system diagrams for every center of the business, using the Seven Centers of
Management Attention as the roadmap.
Remember to also refer back to the Business Assessment.
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Conclusion: E-Myth Essentials
Results: At the end of Essentials, a client has a good foundation and understanding of the E-
Myth philosophy and principles. They should also be excited to dive in and take the next
program to help them work ON their business.
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