290: Awaken Your Inner Entrepreneur with Michael E. Gerber

https://youtu.be/_FFUS8tb-b4 Michael E. Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited and over 35 other books, is driven by a mission to transform the state of small business, entrepreneurship, and economic development worldwide. We explore Michael’s origin story and the moment that sparked the E-Myth movement, including his revelation that most business owners don’t understand their own businesses. He shares how his intuitive and soul-driven approach led to the creation of the first business operating system and the now-iconic principle of “working on your business, not in it.” Michael introduces his Eightfold Path Framework, built on the eight discrete personalities of an entrepreneur: The Dreamer, Thinker, Storyteller, Leader, Designer, Builder, Launcher, and Grower. We also discuss his Dreaming Room methodology, the Radical You 5-year entrepreneurial school, and how AI is enabling the creation of 199 vertical-market E-Myth books. --- Awaken Your Inner Entrepreneur with Michael E. Gerber Good day, dear listeners. So guess who I have here as my guest today. After five years, we finally got to the day when I can interview Michael E. Gerber, who is the author of the E-Myth Revisited, E-Myth Mastery and 35 other best-selling books that have sold over 5 million copies in 30 languages and 150 countries. Michael was the original mastermind behind the concept of the first business operating system back in 1986. And he coined the idea of Working On Your Business, Rather Than In Your Business, which idea touched at least 100 million entrepreneurs worldwide. So Michael is also currently the founder at age 88, almost 89. He is the founder and CEO of the Michael E. Gerber companies, owning programs including Gerber Works, Radical You, Become The One, and The Dreaming Room most recently, and he owns the rights to 35 E-Myth books. So Michael, without further ado, welcome to the Management Blueprint Podcast. I'm delighted to be here. Thank you, Steve. I'm so excited because really, I read your book back in the early 2000s. I got immediately smitten. I actually started a side business trying to implement your system without any training from you, which unfortunately was not successful. So I had to close down my side business, but we definitely implemented it in my own business. And I was just very enamored. I also got a dog-eared copy of E-Myth Mastery, which is like a big volume, and I kind of went through all the ideas there. And finally, to have you be a guest is a great honor, and it's a very exciting day. I'm delighted to be here. Thank you. So, Michael, I'm going to start with my favorite question, even though you are like a super guest here, but tell me about your personal “Why” and how it influenced your life and how it got you where you are at age 88, almost 89, still going strong, still being an entrepreneur. So, what was that “Why” that you had and have? Well, I have said it so many times, it's to transform the state of small business worldwide. To transform the state of small business worldwide. I can almost dance to it because that is what I've been working on all these years. And in the heart of that is to transform the state of entrepreneurship worldwide. And in the process of accomplishing each of those to transform the state of economic development worldwide. Because were I capable of doing the first in order to do the second, I would absolutely achieve that result, economic development worldwide.Share on X And within that resides the spirit of all that, but you know all about that. Well, I mean, I know as much as you've written down and as much as you told me, I definitely know that part. I don't know what's going on in your mind because you're still being creative. You're still developing programs, which is amazing to me. I like to be like you when I get to your age. It's definitely awesome. So tell me about the beginning. What prompted you to write the E-Myth?