Write a book with SME guru

Entrepreneur and author Michael E. Gerber. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi small business owners may have the opportunity to write a book with American SME guru Michael E. Gerber.

The business coach and author of bestselling The E-Myth Revisited is holding seminars in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch based on his long-held premise that most business owners are not entrepreneurs but are "technicians suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure".

The 74 year old has been teaching his "e-myth" model of entrepreneurship since 1977 and said the issues small business people faced had not changed in that time.

"They go into business and give themselves a job. And then they discover it's the worst job in the world because everything depends on them. They're loathe to hire people because they don't think like entrepreneurs, they think like producers."

A core part of the e-myth solution is to apply the lessons of franchising to a business, setting it up as a turn-key operation that can run with or without the owner.

After seven e-myth titles, Gerber has now branched out into what he calls "vertical" books - texts that apply the e-myth philosophy to individual industries.

Several years ago he wrote versions for doctors and contractors and then realised the best way to get his message across was to co-author with operators in specific sectors who had applied the principles successfully to their enterprises.

"Our continuous response from small business owners is, 'Yes, but what do you know about our business'?" he said.

"So I came to a conclusion that why don't I simply speak about it from their perspective so that it means something literally to them?"

The E-Myth Attorney was published in June and 13 other industry-specific titles are in the pipeline. There would be 310 in total, Gerber said,

So far all his co-authors are American and have come through referrals but he will be introducing the concept at the New Zealand seminars. There was no reason he could not collaborate on a title with a Kiwi business, he said.

"If anybody can say they are the one in their industry, whether they are in Australia or New Zealand or Transylvania, doesn't make any difference."

His message for SME owners in New Zealand was no different from the one he delivers to owners around the world, he said.

"They all believe that their problems are special and in fact they're not special - they're absolutely identical to everybody else's problems. That technician's view of the world, that very solitary, that very insular view of the world, exists everywhere I go."

Businesses may have just emerged from the global financial crisis but the economy had gone south a number of times, he said.

"Everything they've taken for granted, thinking that they really had control of their business, in fact wasn't control at all.

"You should do in good times what you absolutely need to do in bad times."

Gerber's seminars will cover topics such as: the five skills vital to the entrepreneur; techniques for developing systemic thinking; the three essential components of business development and identifying your strengths and weaknesses in directing the work of others. Rod Hill, CEO of local business coaching network Results.com, said Gerber's work was well regarded in management circles.

"The theory that drops out of it is from a solid base of research," he said.

"There is no question that business owners need to be able to separate themselves from the business so they can actually see clearly what's going on."

Business owners need ongoing inspiration and education but the challenge is always putting the theory into practice, he said.

"The execution still remains the hard piece."

* Michael Gerber seminars, February 8, 9 and 10 from 9am to midday. For tickets go to www.theknowledgegym.com

Giveaway

The Herald on Sunday is giving away a double pass to each of Michael E. Gerber's seminars in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland on February 8, 9 and 10. To go into the draw, email your name, address and daytime phone number to editor@heraldonsunday.co.nz, with "Michael Gerber competition" in the subject line, and tell us which seminar you would like to attend. Entries close on Wednesday, February 2, at 5pm, and winners' names will be published next Sunday.

Terms and conditions: www.nzherald.co.nz/HOScompetitions.