The E-Myth's Important Lesson

One of the important lessons from the E-Myth is to treat your business like a franchise, and create a "Turn Key" operation. Turn Key means you just turn the key, and it goes!

It's been awhile since I read that book, but that concept really stuck with me. 

When I first started teaching martial arts, I realized that I have a special art, and I have a special way to teach it, that people like.

Through the years, I was teaching everything, all classes - kids, adults, Tai Chi, San Shou, Cardio, etc.

I burned out. Too much stuff. All that, plus the admin of running a business.

Eventually, I found some dedicated students who expressed an interest in teaching, and so I have given them my special art, and my special way to teach it. And, gave them creative space to put in their own things, wherever appropriate.

As great as in-house automated billing is, I also got tired of handling admin stuff.

Eventually I hired an Office Manager (or Program Director, in martial arts industry-speak) who takes care of all the enrollments and admin stuff. 

And as nice as social media marketing is, I couldn't post content very regularly. The internet is where we get probably 80-90 percent of our inquiries, so it's important for us to have good standing.

Eventually, I hired a blogger/marketer person who blogs every day on our site, which feeds into twitter and facebook.

Now, my operation can run without much of my physical presence at all! People are no longer "addicted" to me as their teacher. People are no longer "addicted" to coming to me for admin issues. People are no longer "addicted" to my posts online.

My big job is to make sure my staff is happy and performing well and to continue to challenge them with new ideas. My staff is everything to me, and I make myself very accessible to them.

My big job is also to see what our numbers are, and what the trends are, and what things we need to improve.

Another big job is to make sure the moral of the entire school is up. This is where tournaments and demos are valuable - the whole school rallies behind the competitors/performers.

As we continue this path, and if our numbers keep showing steady progress, I may be inclined to open another location. 

I really like this idea of thinking of your business as a franchise. It makes you think more  like an entrepreneur. At first I thought that I had to have at least 500 students before I can even think of opening another location. Then I realized that as long as we are making a healthy profit, we may not need to wait so long.

We are establishing our unique brand and our unique service, and we may venture to see if our formula works in a different part of the city. It may not, I've heard countless stories of people opening up second locations, only to close very quickly. But maybe they're not as careful as I think I am when choosing employees.

I truly believe that the strength of a business is determined by the strength of its staff. Which is why in the E-Myth, they talk a lot about putting systems in place, that are repeatable. I feel that if the CEO is adamant about staying on top of the staff and making sure their needs and the business' needs are being met, that many challenges will find solutions.

I'm just thinking aloud here, really. My school is currently in the North. It would be cool if I could get another program in the South. Then expanding one in the East, and eventually one in the West. Even if they start out in a health club or rec center.

Well, even if it never happens, it's a nice thought, and cool big picture to have in the back of my head. You don't achieve big things by thinking small! :)