Today, I spoke to Michael E. Gerber, who is the founder of E-Myth Worldwide. Gerber is the author of 13 business books, including the mega-bestseller The E-Myth Revisited. In this interview, he talks about how his brand is described by himself and the media, as well as why small businesses fail.
How would you describe your personal brand?
At INC Magazine they call me, “The World’s #1 Small Business Guru.” At HarperCollins they call me “One of the world’s foremost business thought leaders.” If you were to ask my readers, or any of our over 70,000 business clients, they would say “You transformed my life!” As far as I’m concerned, I’m a guy who learned a significant lesson about why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it, and have been avidly teaching it ever since. You wear a hat a lot. Is that on purpose? Yes, it’s both fun, and my respect for G-d.
What would you recommend to someone who works for a company, but wants to start a business?
I would say, start right now!
Do you have tips for entrepreneurs who have an idea but don’t know how to execute on it?
Yes, learn how.
On your main website, michaelegerber.com, you have a video of yourself speaking about your offerings. What led you to do this? 
I love to speak, I’m called to do it, and the guys who produced the video created the technology to make it possible on my website.
Why do most small businesses fail?
For the absence of an entrepreneur. Thus, The E-Myth (The Entrepreneurial Myth). Most business owners are technicians suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure, who believe that knowing how to do the work they know how to create a business that does that work, and, unfortunately for most, they don’t. The rest of the story is truly tragic. They go to work IN their business, rather than ON their business and create a job for themselves…which quickly becomes the worst job in the world.
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Michael E. Gerber is the founder of E-Myth Worldwide, the coaching, training and education firm he created in 1977 to transform the development of small businesses worldwide. Now approaching its 32nd year, Michael E. Gerber’s extraordinary work has achieved stunning results by transforming more than 65,000 businesses in over 145 countries, translated in 29 languages and use in 118 universities in the world. Gerber is the author of 13 business books, including the mega-bestseller The E-Myth Revisited. His revolutionary perspective has become the gold standard for small business development throughout the world, becoming what INC Magazine calls him: “The World’s #1 Small Business Guru,” and one of Business Week’s bestselling authors of past decades. Michael E. Gerber has founded eleven new ventures in the last four years. His latest book is called The Most Successful Small Business In The World.
