 The latter is both the cause and result of the broken and failed businesses we
see in such large numbers. I know, because I've been helping entrepreneurs fix
their businesses for 40 years.In that time, I've also found a few small
business creators who have discovered the secret of what I call "going beyond."
They go beyond the ordinary. They go beyond the seeming limits of their personal
economy and the barriers that keep so many others consumed with just getting by.
Early in my career, the driving question became: What's the difference
between the survivors and the thrivers? What's the difference between
entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and the Murray Smiths who were my clients?
With only $5,000, Jobs and his partner and an unlikely idea they called the
personal computer created what would become the most valuable enterprise on the
planet: Apple Inc.
Murray Smith, meanwhile, creates a job for himself, works it and works it and
… ends up with little more than what he had starting out.
Why?
Most people suffer a lack of what Steve Jobs possessed. Was he so out of the
ordinary that it would be virtually impossible to awaken the Steve Jobs within
every one of us?
I did find the answer to that question. Over the past 40 years, millions of
readers of my E-Myth books, and tens upon tens of thousands of small business
owner clients, learned exactly how (not theoretically how) to awaken the Steve
Jobs within them.
Here's the key: Steve Jobs was a dreamer, a thinker, a storyteller and a
leader.
The dreamer in Steve Jobs had a dream. The thinker in Steve Jobs had a
vision. The storyteller in Steve Jobs had a purpose. And the leader in Steve
Jobs had a mission.
His dream drove him. His vision gave him clarity. His purpose told him who
was the most important person in his life -- his customer. And his mission told
him exactly how to put the wheels on his wagon.
Once I understood that, I immediately saw the way. If I could help Murray
learn to do what came naturally to Steve Jobs, I could help Murray thrive. And
so, I did!
I've helped tens upon tens of thousands of Murrays. The difference it made
was huge. Murray no longer went to work IN his business, he learned instead how
to go to work ON his business. As a result, Murray's business grew and grew and
grew and grew.
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Then I had a second, even more important epiphany: There was
absolutely no difference between Murray the small business owner and
Murray the underemployed, or Murray the unemployed, or Murray the
self-employed, or Murray the loser. All I needed to do was to help
anyone stuck in their form of survival to awaken the dreamer, the
thinker, the storyteller and the leader within them, and they could
accomplish what my small business clients have accomplished.
That's what I told Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church when I
first met him. And Pastor Rick said, "Go do it. Go do it in the
Saddleback community."
And so began
The Dreaming Room, the only entrepreneurial incubator in the
world. There, I teach people how to apply the formula for thriving
so they can re-create their lives -- to learn more, to earn more, to
grow more, to give more, to create more.
I believe, passionately, in everyone's ability to do more than
"just survive." Maybe you won't end up with the biggest corporation
on the planet -- and maybe you will. But by becoming a dreamer,
thinker, storyteller and leader, you can live a happier, more
abundant and fulfilling life.
___
Michael E. Gerber is an entrepreneur, thought leader, speaker and
best-selling author whose modern classic, "The E-Myth: Why Most
Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It," has sold more than 1
million copies. He is the founder of The Dreaming Room, where
entrepreneurs and others are provided the tools and facilitation to
see, experience, develop and design their dream, vision, purpose,
and mission.
[Text from file received from
News and Experts]
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