This Book Took My Business from $100k to $1m

Introduction (0s)

• The book "The E-Myth Revisited" was first read in 2019 after finishing medical school, and it helped increase business earnings from around $100,000 a year to multiple millions each year (8s).
• The first successful business was started in 2013, six years before reading the book, and during those six years, every single mistake mentioned in the book was made (13s).
• According to statistics, 80% of businesses fail within the first five years, but applying insights from "The E-Myth Revisited" can likely improve the odds of success (25s).
• The three most important lessons from the book that contributed to growing the business from six figures to multiple seven figures will be discussed in this episode of the "Book Club" series (41s).
• The "Book Club" series has been ongoing for four years, distilling and discussing highlights and summaries from favorite books (37s).
• The host, Ali, is a doctor turned entrepreneur and writer, and the author of the book "5 AM Productivity", which can be checked out through a link provided (53s).
• Ali highly recommends reading "The E-Myth Revisited" or watching the rest of the video and applying the insights, especially for those starting a business (59s).

The Story of Sarah (1m3s)

• The story of Sarah, an entrepreneur who fell in love with baking pies as a child, begins with her aunt introducing her to the process of baking in her family's kitchen, filling it with the sweet aroma of freshly baked pies (1m19s).
• As an adult, Sarah had a corporate job that she hated, but her friends encouraged her to start a pie-baking business, which she eventually did, renting a bakery space, buying ovens, and making pies (2m16s).
• Sarah's business was successful in terms of customers, but she found herself working long hours, from 3:00 a.m. to 9:30 or 10:00 p.m., doing tasks unrelated to baking, such as cleaning, reconciling the cash register, and figuring out how to pay the rent (2m49s).
• The author of the book, Michael Gerber, visits Sarah's shop and talks to her about her problems, and as a small business guru, he helps her understand where she's going wrong and how she can improve her business (4m7s).
• The story of Sarah is used as an analogy to illustrate the challenges of running a business and how it can take away from the thing that the entrepreneur actually enjoys doing, with the goal of helping Sarah build a thriving and successful business that allows her to do what she loves (4m22s).
• The author's approach is relatable to other entrepreneurs who may be experiencing similar challenges in their own businesses, regardless of the industry or type of business (3m13s).
• The story of Sarah is a key part of the book, which aims to help entrepreneurs like her build a better business and a better life (4m36s).

The Triple Threat (4m37s)

• The concept of the "Triple Threat" refers to the three roles that are necessary for business success: the technician, the entrepreneur, and the manager, and understanding that being skilled in one area does not automatically translate to success in the others (4m38s).
• The book "The E-Myth" by Michael Gerber argues that most people who start businesses are technicians who enjoy the technical work of doing a thing, but this is not the key to business success (5m3s).
• The "Fatal Assumption" is the idea that an individual who understands the technical work of a business can successfully run a business that does that technical work, which is not true (5m41s).
• The three roles are equally important, and a successful business owner needs to be able to fulfill all three roles: the technician, who is the doer and enjoys doing the work; the entrepreneur, who is the visionary and sees opportunities; and the manager, who is pragmatic and organized and keeps the business grounded (5m59s).
• The entrepreneur is the visionary who sees opportunities and goes after them, often living in the future and creating havoc, while the manager is the pragmatic one who translates the entrepreneurial vision into actions and solidifies the base of operations, often living in the past (6m27s).
• The technician lives in the present and enjoys doing the work, but thinking and strategy get in the way of doing the work, and the technician needs to be balanced with the entrepreneur and manager roles to achieve business success (7m0s).
• Ideally, all three roles should be equally balanced, allowing the entrepreneur to forge ahead into new areas, the manager to solidify the base of operations, and the technician to do the technical work, each deriving satisfaction from the work they do best (7m12s).
• A successful business owner needs to be a triple threat, consisting of an entrepreneur, a manager, and a technician, as being only a technician can lead to being stuck in the "infancy trap" (7m42s).
• The infancy trap is a key theme that resonated with the business owner, particularly in 2019, and highlights the importance of growing the business by using great software and automating tasks (8m10s).
• Make, an automation tool, is used to connect tasks, workflows, apps, and systems, allowing the business to automate various processes, including social media workflows (8m21s).
• Make is used to automate parts of the social media workflow by connecting apps with Notion, where content is organized, and pulling in data from various social platforms to see analytics in one place (8m35s).
• A scheduled scenario in Make connects Instagram with Notion using Ampify Instagram Scraper, collecting up-to-date performance metrics for Instagram reels and importing them into the Notion database (8m52s).
• This automation saves time and streamlines the workflow, previously requiring manual input of information into Notion or Google Sheets (9m18s).
• Make's automation systems have been helpful in streamlining workflows and saving time, unlocking the potential of the business's tech stack (9m36s).
• Make acts as the glue that connects different apps and systems, making it helpful in various areas of the business, such as marketing, operations, and customer success (9m44s).
• Using Make frees up time to focus on content and product improvement, which are the primary concerns of the business (9m54s).
• Make offers a one-month Pro Plan, including 10,000 operations, which can be used to explore and build different automations (10m6s).

The Infancy Trap (10m17s)

• The infancy trap is a concept where business owners get stuck in the early stages of their business, unable to grow beyond a certain point, and it's often caused by the owner being too focused on the technical work of the business rather than the overall management and growth of the company (10m18s).
• Michael Gerber's quote emphasizes that business owners cannot have it both ways, they cannot ignore the financial, marketing, sales, and administrative accountabilities of their business and expect it to thrive (10m30s).
• The infancy stage of a business is where the owner is the technician and the business's priority is to produce something the owner enjoys making, but as the business grows, the owner realizes they cannot do all the work themselves and needs to outsource and introduce new roles (12m20s).
• The infancy stage ends when the owner realizes they need help, and the business will either die or move on to the next phase, and a key takeaway is that the owner needs to work on the business, not just in the business, to achieve growth (12m56s).
• Many entrepreneurs start a business thinking it will bring them financial freedom or the ability to do what they want, but they soon realize that running a business is about more than just doing the thing they enjoy, it's about all the other responsibilities that come with it (11m47s).
• Michael Gerber identifies three stages of building a business: infancy, adolescence, and maturity, and the infancy stage is where the owner is the technician and the business is focused on producing something the owner enjoys making (12m14s).
• The owner needs to be ready to take on new responsibilities and roles as the business grows, and they need to be willing to let go of some of the technical work to focus on the overall management and growth of the company (12m10s).
• The idea that the owner needs to work on the business, not just in the business, is a key takeaway, and it's something that needs to be considered on a regular basis to achieve growth and success (13m2s).
• Focusing solely on being a technician in a business can hinder its growth, as it's essential to also take on the roles of an entrepreneur and a manager to lead the business forward and achieve a desired lifestyle (13m20s).
• Working in one's own business as a technician can prevent the completion of strategic and entrepreneurial work, which is crucial for the business's success (13m29s).
• The moment an individual chooses to start a small business, they unwittingly choose to play a significantly larger game that requires them to take on new roles and responsibilities (13m55s).
• To build a successful small business, the entrepreneur needs to be nurtured and given room to expand, while the manager needs to be supported in developing their skills to create order and translate the entrepreneurial vision into actions (14m7s).
• A small business demands that its owner takes on these roles, or it will eventually lead to disaster and the business will fail (14m23s).
• The growth of a business can be divided into three stages: infancy, where the owner does everything; adolescence, where the owner decides to get help; and maturity, where the owner develops business knowledge (14m36s).
• A resource called Short Form is available, which provides summaries of over a thousand non-fiction books and a brand-new podcast guides feature, offering a time-efficient way to learn and stay updated (14m51s).

The Systems Strategy (15m10s)

• The story of McDonald's founding in 1952 is an example of how a system can be replicated to achieve consistent results, as Ray Croc partnered with two school kids who had a system for making hamburgers quickly and efficiently, and then franchised this system (15m17s).
• The idea is to think of a business as a prototype for 5,000 more just like it, with a clear system that delivers results for the customer without relying on people (15m47s).
• This concept was a key unlock for the YouTube channel, realizing that a business should be approached as if it were the next McDonald's, with a goal of creating a system that delivers results for the customer (15m53s).
• The McDonald's system is operationalized and streamlined, allowing anyone with a modicum of intelligence to work in the role and still deliver an identical experience for customers (16m9s).
• The goal is to create a business whose results are systems-dependent rather than people-dependent, as stated in the book, and to ask oneself how to give customers the results they want systematically rather than personally (16m42s).
• This concept is also applied in hospitals and medical training, where the delivery of healthcare is systemized to ensure consistent results, and the difference in outcomes between a good doctor and a less good doctor is minimal (17m0s).
• The idea is to create systems around tasks, such as baking pies, so that anyone can perform the task rather than relying on one person's talent or innate ability (16m47s).
• The focus should be on creating a system that delivers results, rather than relying on individual talent or expertise, as the system is what ultimately delivers the results (17m42s).
• A well-structured system is essential for a business to deliver consistent results, regardless of the individuals involved, much like a healthcare system where guidelines ensure that the system delivers the results, not just individual doctors (18m0s).
• Building a business with systems that create results is crucial, rather than relying on the genius of people, and this concept can be applied to creative industries as well (18m26s).
• The book "Creativity, Inc." by Pixar's author (not specified) discusses Pixar's system for creativity, which inspired the idea of creating a systemized version of creating YouTube videos (18m35s).
• A standard operating procedure (SOP) or playbook is necessary for creating consistent results, and it should be possible for anyone to follow these procedures and produce similar results (18m52s).
• Having multiple editors follow a generalized SOP has resulted in consistent editing on videos, and this system is taught to students in the Part-Time YouTuber Academy (19m20s).
• Systemizing the process of creating a YouTube video allows for creativity and sparkle while still following a set of constraints, and this realization helped the YouTube channel scale (19m34s).
• Building playbooks and systems around tasks is a big part of the business, with 22 team members working on this, and the goal is to create a set of step-by-step instructions for the business (19m56s).
• The book "Get Scalable" by Ryan Deiss is a companion to "Creativity, Inc." and discusses the importance of creating playbooks and SOPs for a business to scale (20m2s).
• The key takeaway is that the product a business owner is creating is not the product customers are buying, but rather a set of step-by-step instructions or playbooks that enable the business to deliver consistent results (20m34s).
• As a business owner, the primary product being created is the business itself, rather than the specific goods or services being offered, such as baking pies or creating YouTube videos (20m41s).
• The business owner's role is to create a business that produces these goods or services, rather than being directly involved in their creation (20m48s).
• The speaker's business has grown significantly over the past seven years, with annual revenue and profit exceeding several million dollars (21m25s).
• The business has a YouTube channel and offers various products, including books and courses (20m52s).
• The business owner is seeking feedback from viewers, particularly those with businesses or aspiring entrepreneurs, to understand their biggest struggles in starting or growing their businesses (21m19s).
• The business owner plans to create more business-themed videos and share them through their newsletter and business class (21m30s).
• A separate video is available that discusses common mistakes made in building businesses over the past 10 years (21m38s).