The E-Myth: Why Most Massage Practices Fail and What to Do ...€¦ · The E-Myth: Why Most Massage Practices Fail and What to Do About It This class is NCBTBM approved for one continuing

World Massage Conference, Day 1: Business: Creating a Thriving Practice

The E-Myth: Why Most Massage Practices Fail and What

to Do About It This class is NCBTBM approved for one continuing education credit

Website: www.e-myth.com

Hello and welcome to the World Massage Conference. We are very excited to be

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In this presentation we are featuring Tricia Huebner from E-Myth Worldwide on

the topic of “Why most massage practices fail and what to do about it”.

Most massage professionals start their own practices to gain a more balanced

life with more money and more freedom. Many however, have been blinded by

the E-Myth or Entrepreneurial Myth – the fatal assumption that if they understand

the technical work of the business they can successfully run a business that does

that kind of technical work. In this presentation, participants will shift their thinking

to see themselves as true entrepreneurs with a newfound sense of control as

well as a higher level of happiness and achievement – in their business and their

life!

Tricia Huebner is a seasoned E-Myth Seminar Leader and Keynote Presenter

who has personally worked with more than 100 small businesses in the United

States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. As an E-Myth Consultant, Trainer, and

Presenter, she has extensive experience in teaching business owners about E-

Myth’s business philosophy, and in coaching them in the E-Myth Mastery

Business Development Program. Prior to coming to E-Myth Worldwide, Tricia

held the high-level positions of Director of Client Management for ODK

Incorporated, Director of New Business Development at The Sausalito Group,

and Senior Account Manager for SkillSoft, Inc. Tricia also has 10 years of

experience in non-profit management and fundraising. Tricia has a Bachelors

degree in Communications from the University of Iowa.



Backed by 30 years of experience, E-Myth Worldwide delivers business

development solutions designed to ensure entrepreneurs’ success in business

and in life. We enable entrepreneurs to thrive and succeed with high-impact,

results-based education solutions, programs and services that make the

development and growth of small businesses more predictable and sustainable.

Tricia:

You really summed up our work at E-Myth very well, and our mission. I just want

to put that up there for everybody because I don't know how many people have

heard of E-Myth, have read The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber's international

best-selling book. But our real mission is to provide that education to small

business owners across the globe, you know, to thrive, succeed; and provide

those solutions designed to help them grow their businesses in a more

predictable, sustainable, and enjoyable way.

I mean, it's a wonderful thing to be a small business owner, and it's a wonderful

leap of faith that people take when they start their own business. Over the last 30

years of working with E-Myth and business owners, what we find is that it doesn't

always go down the path that everybody think it's going to, and there's some

ways that we start working thinking about our business that tends to take the

enjoyment out it, tends to bring in more frustration. And that's what I want to talk

about today, because no matter where you are today with your business--

whether you just started it, whether you've had it for five years, or ten years, or

whatever--the questions I'm going to ask and the things we're going to talk about



are really designed for you to think about: Are you getting everything you want

from your business for your life?

So, if we go to the next slide, the title of my presentation today is really two-fold.

It's "The Four Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success" (which is kind of a catchy, little

thing), but the bigger idea that's on the slide there is that title, "Working On It, Not

In It." Now, that's something I'm going to refer back to over and over. In fact, it'll

be drilled into everybody's mind at the end of our talk today, because it's such a

profound idea, that. If everybody really gets what it means to not only work in

their business--you know, delivering the services to your clients--but also working

on it, then you'll begin to start experiencing the true rewards of being an

entrepreneur, and owning your own business and having it support your life in all

ways possible.

And that's really what it's all about, because many people who start businesses

we know aren't entrepreneurs--as we just said. They are technicians suffering

from what we call that "entrepreneur seizure," that flash of madness which says,

"Ah! You know what? I am so good at what I do, I'm such an expert at the work,"

of whatever ([e.g.] message therapist, or I'm a dentist, or I'm an auto mechanic,

or I'm a this or that), "that I should own my own business. I could build a business

that does this." And what we forget, when the technician has that entrepreneurial

seizure, is what they usually do is step out of being the expert--absolutely in

control of what they do--into this whole new world called "developing a business,

growing a business, managing people, knowing how to do the finances," all the



things that make up owning and running a successful business.

And it's actually good that people don't have all those thoughts before they take

that leap because many, many people would never take the leap. You know?

You need to have that just flash of passion about what you want to do and about

starting your own business, to, you know, take your life in whatever direction you

want. And so, we're very happy that technicians have those entrepreneurial

seizures. But what's not so good about that is then what happens to most

technicians/business owners as they begin try to build their business. And if

anybody's read the E-Myth and that first chapter, that's all you need to read to

know that we have a number of businesses started both in the United States,

Canada, around the world that ... they start and they go out of business before

their first year is over; and if they make it beyond the first year, then by the time

five years rolls around, another full 80 percent have gone out of business, of

those that survive their first year.

So, the statistics are daunting. I mean, what is really going on? And what we

know, after thirty years of working on just this one question, "What is it that keeps

people in business and helps them build a thriving business?" is contained within

my presentation. And it's actually the secrets that I'm going to share with you are

what we've learned and what we've practiced with business owners for years and

years.

So, I hope everybody's ready. Do you guys want to hear the first secret? I hope

so.



Here it comes. All right, switch that slide over and here's the first secret (all right,

it's simple but it's very profound): In order to have success with your business

you have to change the way you think about your business. And what I'm saying,

is when many people start, they have the mindset of the technician (Right?) and

they come into it thinking about "That is how I build a business." We know that

how you think about your business is how you end up doing business. And the

reason that most business owners are so frustrated – is not that they don't enjoy

what they do, but there's also a great amount of frustration, but is because they

really see themselves not as entrepreneurs, but as workers in the business. And

so, when we talk about that, most business owners, inside their business, inside

their own companies, end up doing all of the things that the technician thinks that

they need to do. They do the selling, they do the answering [of] the phone, they

do the waiting on the customers, they're driving the truck around, they're the

ones handling the books, they're fielding customer complaints. They're doing all

this work, and we all know the work is endless, but unfortunately time is not.

So, here's my point: Small business owners do all this work because they think

they should. Okay? They actually think that that's what being a business owner is

about. They think they need to do all these things because what they truly

believe is that's the only way the business is going to run. Okay? That's the

model by which most people run their businesses. And that would be fine, except

for the fact that all of the frustrations that most small business owners experience

are caused by this idea, that the small business owner is there to do whatever

has to be done. They believe in order to be successful in owning their own



business, they have to learn how to do everything, whether they like it or not; and

they believe that if they don't do it themselves, the work will never going to get

done or it's never going to get done right.

Now, I want to pose the question out there: Does this sound familiar to any of you

that are listening? Of course it does. [Laughter.] I know. I can almost hear you

kind of thinking about the things that go through your day-to-day mind, you know,

about being in your business and all the stuff you're dealing with. You just have

to look at the facts. I mean, most business owners, you know, the things they'll

tell you, the reasons why they can't do this or can't do that, or this is going wrong

or that, is there isn't enough money, that they can't find and keep good people.

And since they're the owner, they're responsible, right? So, they're the ones.

Their financial life is at stake; they've taken this leap of faith. And because, you

know, at the end of the day, they've tried to trust people, they've tried to delegate

things, and things don't always go right, that cycle just starts to take over. And

people end up just kind of getting into the mode of "This is how business is." The

thing is when your mindset becomes "This is how business is. This is what it is to

have a small business," then you're kind of done. You've already decided that

that's how it needs to be.

And what I'm here to tell you is that [it] is not how running a business needs to be

(in fact, it's, you know, 180-degrees different), and you can start to look at the

way you think about it and start catching yourself in the mindset that you're

currently in. That's the point. Okay? We're going to learn to think about the



business differently, and we're going to learn to look at it according to E-Myth

Five Core Principles™ which, again, will transform the way that you think about

business and, therefore, end up doing business.

So, if we can go to the next slide, let me show you the E-Myth Five Core

Principles™. So, what you have on screen there is something that contains off all

of what we call key ideas, philosophy, and points of view, contained in one nice,

neat, little package there. And I'm going to take you through this real quickly so

that you can get a sense of what I'm talking about.

First, in the center, you can probably guess that what is the most important thing

that we talk about at E-Myth is that your business is there to serve your life. It's

about having more life, not less. You went into business to have more life, more

time, more freedom, more money, more this, more that. And you know what?

That's what the business is there to offer. So, let's not forget that very, very key

point (that that business is there to serve your life). Now, we've got leadership

(that's another key principle we're going to talk about). There's that term again,

"Working on it, not just in it," another key principle. Another one is systemization.

And lastly, business development.

Okay, let's go to that first slide that has "life" written at the top. So, when I'm

asking you to step back from your current situation, however your business

happens to be going right now, I'm asking you to revisit why it is you started your

business to begin with. What is it that you wanted to get from your life? Now,

there are four questions here that I'll ask [Laughter] the moderator to reveal,



because I don't know if they're all up in front of the screen. But they're basically....

These are the questions I want you to be able to answer with certain goals and

personal objectives that define what having more life is for you. At the end of

today's presentation, or when you have a break, or maybe this evening, or

tomorrow, whenever, I want you go back and answer these four questions:

1) How do you want to be able to spend your time in addition to being at

your business and servicing your clients?

What is it else that you want to do? Do you want to spend more time with your

family? Do you want to be able to travel more? Do you want to be able to just,

you know, have time off for a day a week? What is it that's most important to

you?

2) What kind of experiences do you want to have?

Okay? That's another sort of extension of "How do you want to spend your time?"

You want to be able to look back on and say, "Wow. I've filled my life with the

most amazing set of experiences. I can't believe it."

3) What impact do you want to have?

What is it in terms of your legacy? You know?

4) At the end of the day, when it's all said and done, what is it that you

want to have done in the world?



These are questions that we don't spend enough time thinking about. We don't

spend enough time taking seriously and really asking ourselves, "What is our life

about?" and then knowing having our own business is the vehicle. Okay? It's the

vehicle for more life.

So, go back to these questions, take out a piece of paper, spend time just

thinking about this, maybe put together some six-month/year/five-year personal

objective, and then write that down and set that aside. And now you have

something that's going to fuel.... The way you think about how business is going

to be different because it's about more life.

All right, if you'll go to the next slide, I'm going to take you to that second

principle, which is leadership. Now, you'll see another big question appearing in

front of you: What's your vision? (Okay?) And this is what your vision is for your

business that will serve your life. Now, there is a lot of stuff we could talk about

with leadership. And there is no shortage of books or articles written about the

topic of leadership. If you were to go through all of all of those (and I've gone

through a great many), you will find that the most important thing boils down to

this: You must have a vision for your business. And a vision is not a plan. I'm not

saying what you're going to do next year (You know?), [like, for example] "We'll

try to up-sell 25 percent," or, "We'll try to grow our client base by 20 percent."

Those are all tactics. They're very important, those are good goals to have, but

I'm talking about vision. I'm talking about a picture in your mind of what your

business is going to look like, act like, feel like, and perform like five years from



today.

Now, when I ask this question--and I give seminars around the country--out of a

group of, let's say, 50 people in the room--people who have had businesses for

5, 10, 15, 20 years, some of them have had their small business, you wouldn't

imagine, when I ask how many people have a written vision for the next five

years, how many hands go up. It is a fraction; it is barely 10 percent in the room,

if that. Now, why is that? When we know it's the most important thing to help you

create, and know what you're going to lead, and what you're going to work on,

why is it that people don't write that down? That's an ongoing question for me,

and I'm posing it sort of rhetorically to you, because you need to do it. You need

to think about "What is it you want your business to look like five years from

today?" and you need to write that down. And it's simply three, four paragraphs,

maybe one sheet (one piece of paper). (Okay?) And once you have that written

down, now, suddenly, you have a vision for everybody to get behind. The people

that work for you, they want to know what their day-to-day time and energy is all

leading up to. It's like, "We go in, and we do our jobs, and we do this, and we do

that. What's it all for? Where are we going? What are we trying to create? What

are we trying to do in our industry? What's it about?" Once you have that vision,

then suddenly everybody starts to shift, including you. It's not just the day-to-day

now, it's the day-to-day which leads to the monthly, which leads to the quarterly,

which leads to the yearly on "How are we doing? How are are we getting to our

five year goal?" It's set within a bigger, more important context, and the work

then takes on a whole new energy.



So, having a vision, writing it down, communicating it to everybody that works

with you is your job as an owner, entrepreneur, and leader of your business. So,

that's something you absolutely must do. And if you do, you will join a very small

percentage of businesses (small businesses) out there that are changing the

world, that have a vision, a mission, and are out to do something special.

Now, if you'll go to the next slide, I want to say one last thing about leadership.

And it's going to seem kind of funny, because, hopefully, now there's a little fish

that has appeared upon your screen [Laughter]. And you'll probably all thinking,

"What does that fish have to do with leadership?" Well, not too long ago, I was

delivering a session down in the Bahamas. And there were people from all over

the world at this conference. And we were talking about leadership, and a

gentleman raised his hand, and he happened to be Sicilian. And he said, "I just

have to tell you: This making me think about a saying that we have in my

country." And I said, "What is that?" And he says, "We say, 'The fish stinks from

the head down.'" And the whole room, of course, kind of burst out laughing. And I

was sort of taken aback and I said, "Wow! So, tell me what that means to you?"

And he says, "The fish stinks from the head down. I'm the leader, I have to take

responsibility. And I do that, and I've stepped into that as being the leader of my

business." And I said, "Wow! That's so true," because think about it: Your

business is a reflection of you, and you get to take credit for all the great things

that have been created (You know?), all the great experiences your customer

has, and how your business works and all. But you also [Laughter] have to take

responsibility for all those things that are frustrating you and going wrong,



because you're the leader and the business is a reflection of you.

So, I love that, "The fish stinks from the head down." It's something I've never

forgotten. And I hope you won't either, because on the one hand, you know,

taking on this responsibility of leading a business is an incredible journey, and it's

not for the faint of heart. So, I want to acknowledge you for that. And if there's

something about leadership that is uncomfortable or is not, you know, you're

really thinking deeply enough about, I'd ask you to think a little bit more, because

you can't delegate that one away. And leadership inside small business is

something that's absent most of the time because it's small (You know?),

because it's just kind of homey and small. And I'm telling you to step out of that,

and to kind of create that next sort of vision and idea about the business and you

as the leader.

All right, we'll move to the next slide. And let me share the next principle,

principle #3. Here, we have it again. You're probably thinking, "How many times

is this woman going to say this to me?" But "Working on it, not in it" is such a big

idea. And now, when you see.... This is sort of the.... If you can shift your thinking

around this, it will change everything, because the business is the product of the

entrepreneur; it's not the products or the services that you're delivering. When

you are an entrepreneur, you have to think about the business as your product,

because, truly, entrepreneurs look at the business, they enjoy finding an

opportunity in the market, and creating that product or service to feel that niche,

and bring that need to consumers. But it's really about building the business, and



what they have, and selling the business--at some point time, maybe.

So, think about that. How many of you have actually stepped back, looked at

your business, and say, "What have I built and what is it worth? If I wanted to sell

my business tomorrow, what have I created? What value have I put into the

business? Does the business have any value without me?" That is a huge

question. And let me tell you: It does. But it also probably has a lot of you in it,

and you're going to have to start to think about that a little differently if you ever

want to get to the point where, you know, you can sell your business--at some

point in time--go do something else or retire--whatever it might be. If you think

about your business from the idea that it is your product of the entrepreneur, you

will change how you look at it and how you go about developing it.

All right, so [I am] giving you model. Go to the next slide. And here's something

that I want you to, again, when the conference is over, and think about this, and

you have access to this presentation, go back to the Seven Centers of

Management Attention™, because what this is what we call it the "Working on it"

model. It shows you the essential seven functional centers of your business. In

fact, this model is for businesses big or small. Every business has these seven

functions going on, and within each of those functional areas, you must develop

strategies, systems, and plans for how you're going to grow and develop your

business. Now, if you look at each one of those individually, you know, you can

say, "Wow! Well, we're doing pretty good over in this area." (You know?) "We've



got a lot of good lead generation. Our advertising works, we're getting a good

steady flow of clients coming in. But what's happening maybe is we're not getting

much repeat business." (You know?) "So, the client fulfillment piece, what are we

doing over there?" or, you know, whatever center you want to look at.

What we know is that most business owners will spend time in the center that

they either know about or they like [Laughter], meaning, you know.... A lot of you

may spend a lot of time thinking about client fulfillment, because you're a

practitioner, and that's part of your passion and what you do. But as a business

owner, you can't just say, you know, "[Inaudible] client fulfillment;" or even in lead

generation and lead conversion, you've also have got to get up there and know

what it is to understand marketing. And you've got to understand the money, and

you've got to look at management, how it is to develop systems and people to

run your business.

So, this is a model that you can go back to and study, and really ask yourself,

"How am I doing in every center of my business?" and then step back and look at

the whole. That's the reason we show this to you, so that it can give you a

framework for strategically thinking about how you're developing your business.

All right, so that's the "Working on it, not just in it." We can go to the next slide.

This is one that E-Myth is probably the best known for, in terms of our ideas. And

when people talk about E-Myth, they automatically think about systems. Well,

that's because our founder, and the author of "Revisited", Michael Gerber, hit

upon a big idea thirty years ago, when he was just consultant out there, working



with small businesses. And he just kept asking himself the question of "Why is it

that all these small businesses seem to be struggling to have a consistency

about their product or service, or their people, or their management, or

whatever?" And what he discovered is this idea: On time every time, exactly as

promised. And what this means, is if you build a system (Okay?), the system is

the solution, the system is what delivers the experience or the result consistently,

because people, you know, are great, but people are inconsistent, and people

come and go in your business. So, you need to think beyond your people, and

you need to think about the way that you do business, the way that answer the

phone, the way that you check in your clients, the way that you check them out,

the way that you contact them before their next appointment. You have a way, a

system, for how you do everything, and then you teach your people "This is how

we do it here."

So, if you'll turn to the next slide, please. This idea we call the turnkey

revolution. (Okay?) It's the idea that if you build a system and you actually

turnkey your business (meaning there's a way to everything, and it's written

down, and you practice it consistently), then suddenly you develop what we call

this "turnkey." Then, suddenly, if you can do it one location, you can do it another

location, and then another one.

Next slide, please (because here's the real "kicker"). If you think about your

business as if you were going to franchise it, you would build a very different kind

of business. First of all, you would build a business that's not dependent upon



you--because unless we create some kind of cloning machine in the next few

years, you can't be in multiple locations at one time, so what you have to do is

develop the systems that deliver the experience for your business. Then you've

created a brand. In every location, people know, "Wow! If I go here, I'm going to

get this kind of service and this kind of feeling from the business. And this is how

they treat me, and this is ...." And that enables you to grow without chaos--

meaning, you know, [if] you put people over here running your system and you

put people over there, they're going to deliver the same experience because it's

systems-based, not people-based.

Now, this idea, in and of itself, if you think about this (back to "How you think

about it is how you end up doing it"), if you really understand this (And we're not

telling you to franchise. That's not the thing, although you might [That might be

the perfect strategy]).... If you think about it differently, you will develop your

business differently. I mean, I know I'm being very emphatic when I'm saying

that, but it's such a powerful idea. So, the franchise prototype is, again,

something you're going to want to return to with that idea of "How do I

systematize my business to deliver the highest-quality customer service in order

to be able to grow it and maybe open up another location or expand it, or just be

away from it and know that it's going to continue to run without me?" All of those

ideas are contained within this.

All right, lastly, I want to introduce you to business development. Okay, up on the

screen, you'll see a picture of the NASCAR pit crew (Okay?). And the reason I



chose the NASCAR pit crew, is the business development cycle, the idea of:

Once you have your system, once you've created that turnkey, then it becomes

"How do we do it better?" It's about innovation, right? And then part of the

innovation process is quantifying "Do we get a better result if we tweak our

systems this way or that way?" And if we do get a better result, then we

orchestrate it and update the system, and we have a whole new process. So, the

NASCAR pit crew, they spend hours and hours going over one, like, simple

change-of-the-tire move. And what they're looking for is how to do it better, how

to shave two, three seconds off of that, because that can mean difference

between winning the race and losing. So, these guys practice, practice, practice,

practice nothing but changing a tire. And once they have that system down, they

think about "Is there any other better way we could do this?" and then they try it,

and they practice, practice, practice, practice.

How many of us think about our businesses that way? Meaning: How many of us

really look at how we answer the phone? "Wow. What result do we get by how

we answer the phone? What is it that we're trying to do by answering our phone?

And are we giving the kind of service and experience that we want? No, maybe

we should try putting down a different script, or saying it a different way, or

making sure that we answer it within two rings." And we practice how we do that.

We practice how we sound on the phone every single day. You know, if you think

about that one little example, suddenly, the idea of building a business and

having it be like this laboratory of "How do we do things here? How do we do it

better? How do we deliver that consistent experience for our clients?" suddenly it



becomes exciting (You know?). This is kind of becomes fun again.

So, I'm going to ask you to go to the next slide, and just ... . Again, the Five Core

Principles™ will help you think differently about your business.

All right, let's go to the next slide, secret #2. If you think differently, suddenly

your new thought leads to new action (Okay?). Testing what we talked about, if

you think about one of those ideas, suddenly that new thought will lead to

different action. And if you turn to the next slide, I want to say to you, "In how

you spend your time." That's what we're really talking about: The actions that you

take, hour-by-hour, day-by-day inside your business. You've got three roles to

play, unless you've got a larger business where you've actually got people in

there, professionally managing or doing various things, you're still probably

operating as the technician, you're operating as a manager, and you're the

entrepreneur (owner). So, how you spend your time, and how you think about,

you know, "Which hat am I wearing and what actions am I taking?" (Okay?), that

has everything to do with your success. The technician gets [a] certain kind of

results; the manager gets some kind of results; the entrepreneur is looking for

certain kinds of results.

So, if you're not spending much of your time with your manager's hat on (which is

about designing systems, and developing and training your people), then your

business is going to suffer. If you're not spending enough time from the

entrepreneurial perspective--knowing what your vision is, where you're going

(communicating that), looking for innovation of how you deliver your service in



the market place--then your business is only going to go so far.

So, my call to you is: Think about how often and how much work you're doing as

the technician, the manager, and the entrepreneur. Each of the personalities

exist within you; each type of work needs to be done. And now, when you think

about developing systems, or you think about, you know, something in your

business that needs to be done [think about]:

-Which perspective are you taking?

-And, therefore, what kind of action will lead you to certain results?

Okay, next slide, please. Here, is secret #3: Identify the results you want, and

then define the actions required to achieve it. So, now, I'm suddenly turning that

on it's head, right? I'm turning the action thing on it's head and I'm saying, "What

you need to know first is what result you want to achieve, then you can figure out

how to achieve it." We usually do it backwards. We usually do something, and we

don't know ... . We kind of think, "What result will this lead?" and we do

something and we get result, rather than "What result are we trying to create?"

then "How do we go about doing it?" Again, a big idea around why systems are

so important, and how finding these things needs to happen on the frontend, and

then you figure out how to deliver it on the backend.

All right, if you go to the next slide, I'm going to take you back to that vision. Yes,

we call it your strategic objective. And within the vision, you need to document



the kind of result you want your business to achieve five years from today. That's

what I'm saying: What results are trying to create? (Okay?) That's the same thing

as the vision under leadership. So, you define this in the document, then you can

share it consistently with your people and you can point to it and say, "Are we

achieving our results that we've written down together?"

Then (next slide, please), you need to define those in terms of your

organizational structure and who's doing what (Okay?). Again, most people do

this completely backwards. I'm saying go back. And you may have to reorganize

who's doing what in order to get the result you're looking for in your strategic

objective. Everybody is tied to your strategic objective. What they do every single

day is either leading you closer to your vision and accomplishing that objective,

or it's leading you further away. You need to look at how you're set up and how

you're doing what you're doing, and then define those results and create a

different structure ([e.g.] if it means changing the way you do things).

All right, next slide. The fourth secret (we're coming full circle): The vision for

your business needs to inspire you to imagine what more life could mean. It's

back to "Why did you start this business to begin with? What is it about having

your own business and how that inspires you to more life?" So, inside your

objective is that vision. (You know?) It's the vision for you, it's the vision for

business. And with your personal objective and your strategic objective, that's

really what you need to set yourself on the course for not just doing business as

usual (Okay?). It's doing it differently, thinking about it differently, and using those



Five Core Principles™ to really establish a true way of looking at your business

from that entrepreneurial perspective.

So, that's the four secrets. And I promise you, if you think about this and you go

back and just kind of let it sink in and revisit some of those key ideas I talked to

you about, then you will create a very different business and you will have a very

different experience as a business owner and manager.

So, I'm back to my title slide. The next one, it says, "Working on It," not just in it,

"The Four Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success." And change the way you think

about your business. Turn your thought into new action. Identify the result you're

after and define how you're going to get there. And create a vision that inspires

you to more life.

And that's what I wanted to talk to you about today. And I hope that it's got your

head spinning [Laughter], because that's what we're about at E-Myth Group,

about getting business owners to wake up to the possibility. And we just hope

that you've had a good first. - If this is your first experience with E-Myth - a first

good introduction. If you've read the book, fantastic; if you haven't that's another

thing that you can do, is pick up The E-Myth Revisited, and that'll take you back

into everything I talked about today, and, hopefully, inspire you into taking action.

Melanie:

Wow!



Tricia:

[Laughter.]

Melanie:

That was fantastic, Tricia. I know that I read that book many, many years ago--

probably when it first came out. When did it first come out? Can you remind me?

Tricia:

Well, you know, it came out about 28 years ago in the first, but the Revisited, the

book that you probably read with the story (Michael rewrote it in the story of a

business owner) has probably been out for about 15 years.

Melanie:

Okay, that's the one then, The E-Myth Revisited. And I have it on my desk, and I

refer to it a lot. It's one of those books that it doesn't matter how many times you

read it, it gives you something else, it gives you another gift. And so, thank you

for going through the Principles with us. And the importance.... your message is

just incredibly important.

Tricia:

I hope so. I hope. And, you know, I also know what it's like day-to-day in the

business, you know, because I've worked with business owners in our



development program, and that's where I'm talking to them every week. You

know? I'm on the phone listening in to what's go on and how they're applying

these ideas and principles inside their business. So, it may feel a little daunting, it

may feel very big to people, but I tell you, just take one idea and really think

about what that could mean to your business and your life as the business

owner. And just start with one idea that came from today, and it'll really ... it'll

change your business; it'll just absolutely will change your business.

Melanie:

Yeah, I agree. And I find that with a lot of practitioners. We kind of get into our

businesses not always thinking--like you said--about the business part, because

we're passionate about what we do, and we're coming into a profession that

doesn't necessarily always have stuff set up for us. And it sounds also, Tricia, like

any time at all, we can start to put these steps into effect; that it doesn't matter

where you are in your business phase, that, at any time, we can really start to

look at this.

Tricia:

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Just work on it a little bit at a time (You know?). Write

down a couple of systems. Think about, you know, talking about how things are

done. But, you know, if anything, create that vision. Create that idea of what the

business is going to be five years from today. And I've just.... I've seen

miraculous things come from that [Laughter]. It's a hard thing. I mean, it's not



easy. It causes you to really look at life, and what you're doing and what you

want in all of that, but once you have that written down, then it's like "This is what

we're going for," and truly it's the thing that businesses into great companies

(You know?), into great places to work. So, I'm hoping that [Laughter] at least a

fraction of our listeners today will heed the call to think about their life, create that

vision, and then as go to work on it as well as in it.

Melanie:

Well, your message is certainly inspiring. And I know that we have a lot of people

who are chomping at the bit to ask questions. So, I'm going to pass the mic over

to Scott, and he's going to let you know what our listeners are asking.

Scott:

We have a lot of questions.

Tricia:

[Laughter.]

Scott:

I'd like to start off with Sharon in Yorktown, Virginia. And she asks:

How do we survive this recession? My associates and I have noticed a

serious slowdown to the therapeutic care, even within the white-collar



financial bracket.

Tricia:

Uh-huh. Well, one of the things that we're talking to all of our clients about, right

now, is this when a business gets tested, is when the economic times become

tough, and we feel so susceptible (You know?) to the external forces that are

around us. And what I would say is the thing to do is to not back down [Laughter].

Don't retreat. And that doesn't mean you can't, you know.... Things are going to

slow down, and that means you're going to have some time, but what you do with

that time is very important. Don't sit and spend, don't just sit and worry, worry,

worry. Work on your business. Direct that energy and that anxiousness into

actual strategic work, and really look at having some more time as a gift. (Now,

this is presuming you're not dangling by a thread [You know?] and that you're

struggling to make payroll, and some of those other things--which ... this is what

happens to small businesses in a time like this, this is when they're tested.)

So, if you've got your foundation and you're able to, you know, weather the

slowdown a little bit, turn your energy towards working on it. Start creating those

systems, create an operations manual, write down, you know ... . Do the things

that you never found the time to do while you were busy, busy, busy. And be

mindful of the fact that, you know, again, if you've got the foundation there, you

know, don't get scared, don't stop promoting the business; find different ways to

promote the business. It's all going to be how you react to this time. And what

we're finding is that a lot business-owner clients ... . [Laughter.] There's a gift in



this time. There is truly a gift to work on it. So, think about ways of making your

business stronger and, at the same time, you know, "What is it that you can do to

kind of shift your tactics?" (You know?). You have to sort of protect your capital in

that, at this point. That's kind of what we're saying. [Laughter] It's not exactly ... .

You know? We don't have the exact answer for you, but it is something, once we

get through this--and we will get through it--you will be stronger and more able

than to accept more business, because you'll have built the infrastructure that

you need to be there.

Scott:

Well, thanks.

We have another great question from Leslie [Inaudible]. Her question is:

What is the difference between a vision and a mission?

Tricia:

Ah! That's a great question. You know, a mission usually talks more about how

the business wants to be seen by people in the community, sort of the "What is

your bigger purpose?" (You know?), that idea of mission. What are you there ...

in terms of ... you know, kind of your purpose to your customer, your purpose to

being in business in the community. And it's usually a shorter, more "lofty"

statement. Your strategic objective is actually a fairly defined document that talks

about:



-How big do you want the business to be?

-In 2013, do you want to have three locations all producing, you know, net

profits of this?

-And how do you want the business to run by systems and your people?

-And how is it going to deliver the kind of experience to your customers?

-What kinds of products and services do you offer?

-How are you going to grow that?

So, it's much more pointed towards how the business is going to be developed.

What we're saying though, is you're picking that endpoint (that five-year point)

and you're describing like it's already there. So, when you do that, when you say,

"Today, my business has three locations, and we produce this, and we carry a

product set of that, and we serve these customers, and this is ... ," all of a sudden

you've given yourself a roadmap ([i.e.] "How do I get there?").

So, that's what the strategic objective is. And the mission sits within it. The

mission of the business is to, you know, serve your clients and do this. But we're

talking about, truly, the elements of "How do you develop it and build?"

Scott:

Excellent. I have another question, and it's about balance. It's from Steven in



Albuquerque, New Mexico. And it says:

What is a good way to strike a balance between being a therapist and

being a business owner?

Tricia:

Uh-huh. Well, you know, depending upon where your business is--meaning how

much you need to work in it to actually be the therapist technician delivering, you

know, the service (and that's going to be different for everybody) ... . But what

you need to keep in mind is if you only work in it and you never work on it, your

business will stay the same size; in fact, it will start to contract. So, what you

need to think about, is ([Laugher] nobody likes to hear this, but it's the only way

you're going to truly understand what's going on) you need to track your time for

two weeks, and you need to write down everything you do, hour-to-hour, every

time you change an activity. So, whether you're seeing a client, or you're doing

the book, or you're meeting with an employee, or training somebody, write down

everything that you do for a period of two weeks, and then step back and ask

yourself, "How much time am I being a technician, how much time am I being a

manager, and how much time am being an entrepreneur?" And this will begin to

help you understand where you are--gives you a baseline--and then "What do

you need to do in order to shift some of your time into that strategic work of the

manager and the entrepreneur, away from the technician who just delivers the

service, in order to keep going and developing your business while, you know,

operating it?" It's a bit of a trick. But what you need to do is really understand



what you're doing and the kind of results you're getting, then you can start to look

for achieving a different balance--because my suspicion is that most people are

going to find they're very heavy on the technical work, not just, you know, as a

practitioner, but even doing the things like, you know, filling out paperwork, or

going to the bank or answering ... you know, things that you could pay someone

else to do; and you just need to start to notice the degree, you know, of what kind

of work is being done, how much you're doing, and what kind of result are you

getting; and ask yourself, "If I keep doing it this way, am I going to get where I

need to go?" It's a very simple question. You say, "Yes," to certain things, you

say, "No," to other things, and, "If I keep saying, 'Yes,' to all this work, am I going

to grow and develop my business?" and you'll start to see a balance.

Scott:

We have a number of questions, and it really has to do ... a lot of them have to

do with relocation, because a lot of people, due to the economy, but, also, you

know, people are always relocating and looking for new opportunities.

We have a question from Mary Rachael Clark and she's in Germany. And she

says:

What advice do you have for starting up a small business abroad?

Tricia:

Hmmm. Is it a brand new business, or is it kind of just taking a business that's,



you know, sort of a concept and putting into a, you know, marketplace, that

would sort of be.... You know, kind of coming back to that franchising idea, if

you've got sort of the business turnkey, the idea, and you're just putting it into a

new market, that's kind of a sort of one whole thinking [Laughter] (You know?),

sort of strategizing about that and understanding new markets. If it's, you know,

"taking something brand new and starting it someplace" (Wow!). There's just so

much to say about that. First and foremost, once.... You know, if you go back to

this Seven Centers, and, you know, inside the leadership, in the center, is you,

as an owner, entrepreneur ([i.e.] "What are you trying to do?") But the second

place you go is into the marketing center, and you have to ask yourself who my

customer is, "Where are they located and why do they buy?" And in determining

whether to start a business up in a certain location, you really have to spend a

great amount of time in that marketing center understanding "Is the opportunity

what I think it is?" And then, when you put the business down there ... . Again,

are we just talking about starting from scratch, or are we talking about taking the

existing business and opening up another location [more like the franchise-

prototype idea]?

So, I would just say, really, you can't leave a marketing center until you have the

information to know whether you have the opportunity to be successful with

whatever your product or service is and the market you're looking at putting it

into.

Scott:



Absolutely wonderful answer. You've answered all these questions. I think

everybody is learning so much from this. I have another question from Molly

MacDonald in Bloomington. And she asks:

Can you speak a little more about "lead conversion" and what it means?

Tricia:

Yes, "lead conversion" is our term for advertising. So, again, once you know who

your market is, where you find them, and why they buy (You know? What is it

they need in your product or service?) , then you've got to create the activities or

the strategies, right? So, you've got to know "Okay, do I reach my market the

best by being on the radio," (by doing a radio ad), "Do I reach my market best by

taking an ad out in the newspaper? Do I reach my market best by holding a

promotional event in my community? What is going to be the correct [we call it

'channel'] and message?" So, in lead generation, you're concerned about "What

channel do I broadcast my message through in order to get the people that I'm

targeting to by business?" But in order to know which strategies (or the best

channel), you've spend time in marketing and say, "I absolutely know who my

target market is, who my most probable client is." And once I define who they

are, then I can look out there say, "Now, where do I find them? Where are they

located? And what kind of media do they respond to most effectively?'" And if

you do that thinking upfront, then you'll spend a lot less of your time trying,

throwing things out there to see what happens. (That's a a lot of money, you

know, put out advertising, only to see what results you get.) Think about it on the



frontend first, and really answer those questions for yourself, and then look for a

highly targeted approach to lead generation. And then conversion, of course, is

"How do I get my prospect to become a customer?" Lead conversion is the sales

aspect. So, first you've got to generate those leads, then you've got to convert

them into clients and then you've got to fulfill them with your service. So, it works

when you think about three of those centers of your business as a continuous

group of systems--you know, [for example], our system for getting our message

out and getting people to respond to us, our system for, you know, then turning

them into ... maybe offering a 20 percent-off on a first session, get them to try it

and convert them into a client, and then delivering them on an ongoing basis.

Scott:

Well, again, we have a question from David in Queensland, and he's actually

sending his question from New Zealand, and it's regarding the franchise

prototype. And it says:

Michael Gerber talks about in "E-Myth Revisited" how it's difficult to

franchise your business if your business is dependent on professional skills

rather than process. Given that massage skill and experience is a very significant

aspect of the business, how does this relate to what you're talking about?

Tricia:

Yes, and that's a great question, and I know a lot of people were thinking about



that when I was talking about that concept. You know, you have to take a look at

the business in addition to just the delivery of.... I mean, I know the essence of

the business is the delivery of the service. Right? It's the connection and, you

know, with the practitioner and the client. And so, when you think about "Do you

have a way?" First of all, you kind of have to ask yourself, "Do I believe I'm the

only one that can deliver this particular experience?" And you really have to ask

[Laughter] yourself, "So, if that's true, if I'm the only one that can do that ... ?"

then the answer is, "I'll only be able get so big because I only have so much time

and I can only do so much.'" So, right there, you've sort of defined the fact that

you can't really look at this franchise prototype if you believe you don't have a

way of delivering your service that could be replicated and taught to others. If you

believe you do, then suddenly you think, "Okay, so I'm not the only one that can

deliver this service, right? We have a brand that we could then develop inside my

business," (my massage therapy center or whatever), " and actually I could see

how to do that and how to replicate that in other locations." But, you know, it's

doctors, dentists, accountants, lawyers. Anybody who has technical expertise in

delivering that is going to be asking this question. And what you have to say is,

"Well, okay, if I only think it can be me, then [the] game's over." It really is. I

mean, you have to look at the business and the way that you would put systems

in place, not to do just all the other things of the Seven Centers, but the client

fulfillment center. Are you certain that you can teach others and that you have a

way that could be replicated and therefore put into multiple locations.

Scott:



Well, thank you, Tricia.

Melanie

Thanks Scott. The World Massage Conference is brought to you by Eric Brown,

Scott Dartnall, Melanie Hayden and our sponsors.

We would like to thank our Global Sponsor Massage Envy: Massage Envy is the

leading employer of massage therapists in the United States. To discover the

benefits of choosing Massage Envy as your career, visit their website at

www.massageenvycareers.com

Thank you to our Daily Sponsor Cortiva Institute: Cortiva Institute has put

together the greatest minds (and hands!) in the healing arts industry to provide

you with exactly the right course at the right time in your career. Cortiva offers

Continuing Education that is fun, inspiring, economical and convenient. Register

for over 100 different courses at 10 locations across the US at

www.cortiva.com/ce

It is through the generous support of our sponsors and the presenters

themselves who have given so generously of their time, that we are able to bring

you this conference with presenters from around the globe at such an affordable

price.

And just a reminder for those of you who are attending the re-broadcast of this

presentation, all presentations, the tradeshow and sponsorship information for

the World Massage Conference 2008 will be available until May 31st 2009.

We invite all full access pass members to download all of the presentations to

create a resource library of over 50 hours of training for yourself and to take the

quizzes to download your Continuing Education certificates.



For those of you in the United States who require NCBTMB Continuation

Education credits please follow the link on the landing page for instructions on

how to access your certificate.

For our Basic Access Pass members remember that you can upgrade to a full

registration pass at any time, during or after the conference to be able to

download presentations, apply for CE certificates and more.

On behalf of my world massage conference partners Eric Brown and Scott

Dartnall and our presenter Tricia Heubner, I'm Melanie Hayden. Thanks for

joining us and have a fantastic day.

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The E-Myth: Why Most Massage Practices Fail and What to Do ...€¦ · The E-Myth: Why Most Massage Practices Fail and What to Do About It This class is NCBTBM approved for one continuing