Revisiting the E-Myth

The problem with most small-business owners, Michael Gerber famously wrote in his book, The E-Myth, is that they're technicians, not managers. In other words, they can bake a great cake but couldn't run a bakery if their lives depended on it.

Turns out that cake-baking (or plumbing, hair styling or bookkeeping) is a good skill to have these days.

With most small businesses stuck in neutral because of sluggish salesand scant access to credit, many business owners are rolling up theirsleeves and doing the jobs they paid other people to do before therecession hit two years ago. Not only does this drive more dollars tothe bottom line, but it also reduces the burden of payroll taxes,health insurance and worker's comp and lets the owners deal directlywith the customers who hired them for their technical skills in thefirst place.

While I haven't seen any statistics to back thisup, I can tell you from what I'm seeing at my own small-businessconsulting firm that most of my clients with technical skills are usingthem to keep their businesses afloat. Whether it's the softwaredeveloper who's writing his own code, the chocolatier who's filling herown gift baskets or the landscaper who's mowing his own lawns, thesebusiness owners aren't hiring employees to do the job. Instead, they'repicking up the slack themselves and banking the money they earn untilthey're convinced that the economy is headed in the right directionagain.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that youabandon the American Dream of starting a business, hiring someone toreplace you, and spending the rest of your life relaxing on a beachwith a mojito, What I am saying is that a small business run by a guywho knows how to bake his own cakes has a better chance of survivalthan a company run by a CEO who wouldn't know a croissant if he bitinto one.