Luc and I read a lot at ShareMeme, and we really tuned our reading lists to books about entrepreneurship. We already placed some emphasis on book reports before with Geoff Livingston’s Now is Gone. In this series, we really want to nail down the quick hit takeaways from books that might be applicable to web entrepreneurs.
One of the first books that we wanted to highlight was E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. We took away the following lessons from the book:
Document. Documenting everything is an important task and goal. This should include code, sales, marketing, finances, etc. The closer a small startup moves towards that paradigm, it eventually means that we’re more marketable for selling and hiring others to come on board later on. There’s written proof the past practices, successes, failures, and duties. There’s history! The same applies to accounting practices too.
Organize. An organizational chart with responsibilities even between two people is really important. It sets clear guidelines for who does what especially with job descriptions or job contracts, as written in the book. For two people, it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but we feel it reduces conflict on decision-making and duties. over time, as new people are brought in, they’ll be presented with a clear division of duties and won’t be confused as to how things work in some mysterious ways in small businesses.
Understand. Marketing is understanding the customer and why they buy. For us, the customer buys what’s easiest and quickest to use. The customer also considers how credible the site is, so that his/her friends consider it credible. An easy way to gain name-recognition is to make the experience quick and easy.
The simple, quick message of the book is to become the technician, manager, and entrepreneur. Being successful in a small business requires equal parts expertise, management ability, and vision.
