by Jeff Johns

Created on: May 01, 2008   Last Updated: May 07, 2008

Owning your own business could be the hardest job in the world. That isn't a news flash for anyone who has ever exercised his or her entrepreneurial spirit. They know the reality is that once you open your own shop, hang out your shingle or wave your own flag that all too often, they become the business.

That's why anyone standing on the precipice of making the leap into his or her own business should invest in a copy of small business success guru, Michael E. Gerber's, "The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What To Do About It."

Gerber points out that most businesses get started for the wrong reasons. Often a particularly skilled or key worker starts to think that they could become more successful if they were working for themselves rather than remain in their current job situation. Often encouraged by family members or friends they can no longer deny their entrepreneurial urges and strike out on their own, in a quest for more money or greater freedom.

This is where the "E-Myth", meaning entrepreneurial myth, tends to kick in. Instead of creating a business what these people have succeeded in doing is creating a new job for themselves. Gerber points out that "small business owners struggle to achieve success because they are working in their business when they need to be working on their business."

You may have all the right skill sets to produce top-of-the-line widgets or the genius to operate in a creative industry, but do you have what it takes to develop and grow a business, hire workers with the necessary skills and then manage not only those employees but also balancing the bottom line?

Gerber's goal is to get folks to think like business owners before they actually become business owners. He points out that the goal should be to create a business that works and functions independently of the business owner.

Gerber applies some basic building blocks like "what the business should look like," and business plans that spell out the organizational structure detailing the individuals responsible for business basics like marketing, sales, accounting and finance and production.

Often it is the entrepreneur that ends up wearing most of these hats, but the plan should also recommend a strategy for testing each job and how the owner to step back from given roles as others assume those responsibilities. The ultimate goal is for the owner to reach the point where they are no longer needed for the business to operate and function without him.

Contrary to some opinions, Gerber doesn't discourage people from taking the leap into business, he merely challenges them to do it after carefully considering and weighing the business vs. job question and if the answer turns out to be job, how you can best address that issue.

Gerber also tackles head on one on the thorniest issues for new business owners balancing business and life. One of the commonly cited reasons why workers want to start a business is freedom, which more often than not becomes one of the biggest challenges new business owners face. Like the other issues, Gerber wants folks to come face to face with the issues upfront rather than after the fact.

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