The other day I mentioned that I was rereading the fantastic book by Michael Gerber called The eMyth and I told you that you should run your business like McDonalds. There’s another lesson that you can learn from Ray Kroc and that is you should work on your business, not in it.

One of the key ideas in The eMyth that Michael Gerber articulates particularly well is that the typical entrepreneur, and certainly this includes internet business people like us, is really three people when it’s all said and done.

It’s the technician, the person who knows all about the details that their website is about. It’s the entrepreneur, the person who wanted to start the internet business in the first place. It’s the manager, the person who coordinates getting all of the work done, particularly in the case where there are multiple workers or outsourced employees.

The problem with most entrepreneurs, Gerber writes, is that they have passion around the technician role. They know how to do something very well or they’re expert in some area and they just don’t want to let go of it. For example, they’re an expert gardener and that’s why they have a gardening website, or they’re an expert at some other technical aspect like putting up websites and so they don’t want to let go of the technical task of coding HTML.

Whatever it is they are so focused on working in the business they forget about doing the other two roles, the management role and the entrepreneurship role and work on the business. Now, Gerber says it’s very important that you actually let go of this role, systematize it, and outsource where you can so that you can work on the business instead of in the business.

An Internet Business Example

For example, if you’re actually creating all the content for your website, answering all the support emails, doing all the graphics, you’re working in the business. If you actually are planning new products, doing market research and laying the foundation for future growth of the business, you’re working on the business. Doing all the tasks yourself, clearly working in the business. Delegating the tasks and managing those tasks as the manager of your business, you’re working on the business.

This is the difference between working on the business and in the business and I submit to you that you need to take Gerber’s advice and start working on your business a little bit today instead of working in your business.

Thanks, this is Mark Mason from MasonWorld.com where we learn how to build internet businesses one night at a time.

I was reviewing one of my favorite books the other day and it reminded me that we really should all be building out internet businesses just like Ray Crock did at McDonalds. Of course, the book I’m talking about is The eMyth by Michael Gerber. Actually, the latest version is called The eMyth Revisted.

A lot of people mistakenly believe that The eMyth is about the electronics age, or email, or ecommerce, but actually E is for entrepreneurial myth. In The eMyth Gerber goes through an example of how McDonalds was able to franchise its business all across the world and the systems they used to do that.

As a matter of fact, Gerber points out that a new McDonalds franchise opens somewhere in the world every eight minutes. This is truly remarkable and only possible because the McDonalds business is completely systemized.

Every tiny detail that is involved in running a McDonalds is documented in McDonalds’ procedure manuals. How big the hamburgers should be, what the buns should look like, how thick the patties should be, they even have a procedure for where the pickles go. Crock recognized that if you place the pickles in a particular configuration you could keep them from falling off of the hamburger into the customer’s lap, therefore increasing customer satisfaction.

All of these tiny details are precisely documented in McDonalds’ procedure manuals. The impact of this careful documentation is twofold. One, it makes McDonalds run like a finely oiled machine. It gives consistency of experience at every McDonalds that you go to. In fact, I’ve been to McDonalds in Tokyo and Korea, in Texas, in Tennessee, they’re all the same.

Actually, as a side note, McDonalds in Tokyo also serves noodles, which kind of freaked me out a little bit, but that’s neither here nor there.

Is Your Business Like McDonalds?

So, the point is if you systemize your business you can give consistency of customer experience. The other point is you can make your business where it can easily be run by someone else or sold. That’s what makes McDonalds franchiseable.

When somebody buys a McDonalds shop they’re buying a turnkey business that makes it possible for anyone who’s got the money to invest to buy a McDonalds and be successful on a very predictable schedule. The great thing about McDonalds in this regard is that they have so much data, because they’ve sold so many hamburgers they know exactly what’s going to happen the moment you buy the franchise.

How does all this gibberish about McDonalds apply to your internet business? Well, the same two ideas apply. If you are able to completely procedurize and systematize your business you can easily do two things. The first thing you can easily do is you can easily outsource the work in your business.

If you’ve carefully documented the procedures, for example, for transcribing and posting a blog post then you can outsource the transcription and posting of a blog post. In fact, this very blog post is being transcribed at this very moment by my transcriptionist, Loretta.

The second thing you can do is some day sell your business. After all, you would expect a website to typically be worth about 10 times the amount of money that it earns in a month. Some people say 12, some people say 14, but you get the idea. That value goes up tremendously if the business doesn’t depend on you actually running it.
There’s actually a third benefit, and that is if you have a successful business and you’ve got it carefully documented, that successful business can be duplicated, exactly in the McDonalds case. You can change these businesses and duplicate them yourself or you can document the way you are running your business and sell that as an ebook that can help people understand how to successful run an internet business.

So, run your internet business like McDonalds and just like Ray Crock you will love the results. Thanks. My name is Mark Mason, I’m from MasonWorld.com and I’m happy to help you learn how to run a part time internet business successfully.

Have a great day!

photo credit: riNux

People talk about the "risk" of having your own business.  I suggest to you that the real danger may lie in having a "day job".  The reason is that for most "real jobs" you have to drive.

Driving is dangerous.

This morning before daylight I left my comfy home in thee suburbs to drive into work.   Depending on traffic, I have a 20 minute to 45 minute drive.  Early in the morning, I was counting on a 20 minute drive.  I was in good shape because my first meeting was in 3 hours at 9AM.

I always use my time in the car to work or learn.  Most times I listen to books on tape or podcasts.  Other times I use a great Sony voice recorder to record draft content for this blog and other projects.

As an aside -- there are two lessons here for your internet business.  You should outsource things like transcription and you should work during your idle times.  There is no reason for me to fill my head with the junk on the morning radio DJ show or the negative junk on the news channel.  I don't need to know how many muggings there were last night.  I can always do much better that that by working on my business.

Today was really productive -- I recorded 3 blog posts on the way to work this morning.  I was really pumped, and wondering what the transcriptionist would think when I hit her with 3 new files in her dropbox.

Then, I set my voice recorder on the center console (I drive a Tahoe).  It's a great vehicle, and the accelerator never sticks.

Suddenly, I had to brake hard. I love Texas, but drivers here are idiots.   I am convinced this has something to do with the number of people that have moved to Texas from up north.

Naturally, the recorder slid of the center console right into the drink holder.

It landed in the middle of my big cup of coffee.

Then, trying frantically to rescue my $80 voice recorder and precious blog content, I spilled the entire cup of coffee on my khaki slacks.  Sure they are that fancy (and really expensive) stain-resistant microfiber stuff.  But when you dump 14 ounces of coffee on them, there is no escape.

The coffee was hot, and I was soaked down to my underpants.

No better way to start the day than with your manhood scorched, a giant coffee stain on your crotch, a ruined voice recorder, and lost data.

I started to get mad, but then I just said to myself:

"Self, this is an opportunity to have breakfast with the wife and kids,"

I turned the car around, drove through Chick Fil A, and surprised the family with breakfast.  I even got in one game of Super Mario Brothers with the big guy before leaving so I could get to my 9AM meeting across town.

What a day!

My wife is always making fun of me because, well, I am an engineering geek.  The fact that I am interested in social media, internet marketing and public speaking means that I am not a typical engineering geek, but I am still a geek.  I admit it.

Today she forwarded me one of those funny emails about engineers.  I decided I would share it with you here so you could understand a little more about me (and my wife).

I am reprinting these jokes without permission -- there was no attribution in the email that I received.  Let me know if that hurts your feelings...

Understanding Engineers – One

To the optimist, the glass is half-full.

To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty.

To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Understanding Engineers – Two

What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?

Mechanical engineers build weapons

Civil engineers build targets.

Understanding Engineers – Three

Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

There were some other funny ones in that email, but I decided I did not want to offend anyone.

Have a great day.

One of the things that I hear all the time is “Mark, I want to start my online business, but I need to make money right away.”  Well, the answer I always give is that it can take some time to make money online as a marketer (weeks or months – sometimes years), but you can always make money online as a Virtual Assistant almost instantly.

Last week, I was really pleased to get a very exciting announcement from one of my favorite Virtual Assistants, Loretta.  Put simply, Loretta rocks.  She was contacting me to announce her new product about how to quickly start a transcription business.  The product is called Transcription Crash Course.

Obviously, I was excited for her because she is an excellent transcriptionist and I was glad to see her launch what I knew would be an excellent product.  But I was even more excited because I know that there are people that read my blog that meet the following critical criteria:

• They have a computer and can type
• They need to make money right now (today)

So – guess what I did?  I bought a copy.  I am sure I could have gotten one for free, but one thing I learned from Lynn Terry is that in most cases if you are going to review a product, you should buy it yourself, so I did.

I was really impressed.  Here’s why.

Learn To Start A Transcription Business Today

When you purchase Transcription Crash Course, you get a sharp looking no-fluff 17 page eBook that tells you everything you need to know to get started.   Loretta covers these critical areas in the eBook:

• Stuff that you need (you already have almost everything; other stuff is free)
• Stuff that you might want (but don’t need to get started)
• Deciding to offer edited versus verbatim transcripts
• How to easily format your transcripts
• Doing your first transcript (not all that scary now)
• Setting your rates
• Finding work (easier than you think)
• Setting up your own website
• Using social media to promote your business
• etc.

In addition, Loretta includes some awesome bonus material:

• Client communication tips
• Time management tips
• Seasonal business

My Takeaway on Transcription Crash Course

So here it the bottom line.  If you need a quick way to make money on line and you can type, this could be the answer that you are looking for.  Check out Transcription Crash Course today.  Loretta is offering a 60 day money-back guarantee.  If you are serious about making some quick money online, you’ll know this program is for you after a few days.

Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments below.