Strange title, I know. What in the world is an Incorrigible Entrepreneur, and what in the world does that matter to you? That’s the subject of our dialogue today. Yes, I know, in one sense this is a monologue, not a dialogue. I’m doing the talking, and you’re doing the listening. But, to the degree you truly understand this to be a dialogue, you will then find why it is important for you to ask yourself the question: Am I one? Am I an Incorrigible Entrepreneur?

The Incorrigible Entrepreneur is only incorrigible because he or she makes the same mistakes, over and over again. Mistakes in his or her perception of the world in which they live, and their relationship to it. You might call that a mistake of judgment, but in my mind it is rather a mistake of perception. What the Incorrigible Entrepreneur sees is not what is actually occurring; it’s simply the way he or she believes it to be. And that’s a major problem from an entirely different perspective than you might think. For example, when I say this is a dialogue and you say this is a monologue, our perspectives cause each of us to respond differently to what’s actually going on. It’s a dialogue from my perspective, because you cannot help but think when I write. Even though your response is not, in your mind, being shared with me, in fact it is. You simply don’t realize that it is. I can hear you right now. I can hear all the words, all the thoughts, all the commentary, all the musings, and the snorings, all the whistling and the groaning, all the doubting and the disbelieving, and all the other thoughts and considerations and conclusions and questions, all of them, and everything, the noise is deafening, as I listen to you talking. And the reason all of this is important to the Incorrigible Entrepreneur in you: For you to see what you don’t see; to hear what you don’t hear; and, to listen to what you have failed to listen to. All so you can understand what you have perhaps failed to understand, as I ruminate and wander about on this page, in your mind, with nothing to gain but the connection to be made. Which brings us to the point that it is not that the Incorrigible Entrepreneur is incorrigibleas an entrepreneur, but that the entrepreneur who is incorrigible is caught up in a life process which indelibly links his or her reactions to those behaviors which deflate the value of his or her entrepreneur-ness and originality. Which is to say, that your incorrigibility could become your greatest strength to the degree it intensifies your search for the original, rather than your greatest weakness; to the degree it deflates that search into the confines of all the questions you once asked, not unanswered, but no longer of interest to the incorrigible habit we develop over time, of simply accepting dead answers for the living questions which once were. Which, of course, this entire language lurch we’ve just engaged in, is a call to working on your life, not just in your life, the latter being what most of us have come to do. Resigned to the fact that there’s only so much energy, and there’s only so much interest, and there’s only so much time, after all, and only so much intelligence to go around, and I trust I haven’t used up what’s available in this little search of mine. So, thanks for the conversation, friend. Yes, I am incorrigible myself, at times, and hopefully you’ve shared a little bit of mine.

Michael E. Gerberis a true legend in entrepreneurship, helping transform 70,000+ businesses in 145 countries over the past 25 years. Michael’sNew York Timesbest-selling book,The E-Myth Revisited, has sold over 5,000,000 copies in 29 languages, andE-Mythmethodology is taught in 118 universities worldwide.Inc.Magazine has called Michael the "World's No.1 Small Business Guru." In his spare time, Michael loves to read about religion, philosophy and poetry. He and his wife, Luz Delia, live in San Marcos, CA.

In order to build the most successful small business in the world, you must understand that a small business is a system in which all parts contribute to the success or failure of the whole.

A small business is a system in which all parts contribute to the success or failure of the whole.

Like Henry Ford understood the relationship between the Ford Motor Car and the Ford Motor Company (which manufactures, sells and services the car), you must understand the connection between all the parts in your business and how your company relates to the world.

Here are the essential parts of your business:

Perhaps you've spent your life working in an industry. You know all about that industry from the inside. But building a business requires goingoutside. You must consider your customer's needs first and foremost.

Every customer is being pursued by other companies in competition to yours. They are all making offers to solve the same problem your business solves. Your job is to analyze those solutions, and know how yours is better.

There are numerous channels of distribution available to you, but you need to know which ones are most effective for your business. The channels you ultimately choose will determine your reach and your cost.

How will you get the word out about your business? You could get on the news by doing something newsworthy, or by buying advertising. Get yourself out there as often as you can.

This involves capitalizing your new venture. Likely, your first steps will be bootstrapping--or financing through yourself and those you know. Down the road, investors may be a possibility, but all the pieces of your business must be running smoothly.

The strategic part of your business is what happensinsideit. They includeStrategy,Marketing, Operations and Finance--the four essential functions in your business.

The tactical aspect of your business overlaps intoMarketing, Operations and Finance. This is the execution of thestrategythat you have created.

All the work done by theworkersin your business falls into this category. The tactical part lays out the tactics, the incremental part performs them.

Each of these parts must collaborate with the other parts to form a whole. Unless they fit together in a collaborative, highly systematic way, your business will be in chaos. And when it comes to building the most successful small business in the world, chaos simply will not do. That business--the successful one--must grow out of order.

Order calls for symmetry. And symmetry leads to balance. And balance requires consistency. And consistency needs integration. To achieve integration, all parts of your business must fit together, and work together, seamlessly.

The Business Plan that Always Works

Why is it that business plans never come to life? Why do almost all of them, once written, sit on a shelf and gather dust, while the futures they describe never see the light of day, and the businesses they lay out wobble their way into uncertain futures?

A business plan that attempts to account for all the possible changes that will happen in the future is obsolete before the ink is dry on the page.

A traditional business plan is head-centered; it's an exercise in what business owners think they should do. Writing a traditional business plan is usually precipitated by one of two thoughts:

1. We'd better write a business plan because "that's what most successful businesses do"

2. We need to write a business plan if we want to go out and borrow money.

Traditional business plans are quite intentional. They are thoughtful, analytical, complete, decisive--all of the hallmarks of a supposedly "smart" business.

Traditional, head-centered, static business plans don't work.

A plan that starts in the head, with logic and reason and thoughts, lacks passion and excitement and purpose. And a plan that starts with the assumption that it's been able to capture and account for all the relevant changes that will happen in the future is obsolete before the ink is dry on the page.

The business plan that will always work starts from a different place with a different set of operating assumptions. It starts from a heart-centered approach, which means it starts with experiencing the feelings you have. Not only does this plan tolerate change, but it relies on your building in change as a key factor that will keep you on the best course.

The Dreaming Room

When I work with Entrepreneurs, I lead them through something I call 'The Dreaming Room.' This is the step before the business plan. In the Dreaming Room, we set out to imagine our businesses-but not from a logistics standpoint. Rather, we dream about the vision for the business. Why do you want to build it? Who will benefit? What will it mean to the world? Only after you understand those things, can you write any kind of tactical plan that will truly get you there.

The real difference between the business plan that always works and the traditional business plan is in how you think and feel about the plan--it's your attitude and your relationship to the plan that will make all the difference.

The True Test of a Business

Do you want to build a business or a job? Many entrepreneurs don't understand the difference.

I believe the first principle of business--the one that shapes every single decision you make from the moment you decide that a business of your own is something you truly wish to create--is that your business must be able to grow.

What's your top priority as a business owner?

Seventy percent of all companies and 100 percent of home businesses are sole proprietorships. One person, or two, operate the business. That's all. These businesses are populated by owners working for a living. They are working at a job and nothing more. All they ever wanted to do was to create a job; to create control over their personal income; to create a place to work, a place to do what they know how to do. Or, if not that, to do something, anything, they can turn their labor and ideas into money. In short, they want to be self employed.

They are told that the idea of going out on their own is to do what they love. And once they do that, everything else will come their way.

Unfortunately, it isn't true.

Being self employed, and building a company are two very different things. And that's why most businesses fail ... because they aren't businesses at all.

The true test of a business is whether you--as the business owner--can step away and have it run without you. That should be your primary goal: to build a business large enough where you aren't the one doing the work. You have employees who do the work, and your job is to think about growing the business even bigger. Your top priority should be to get to that point, and to get there as quickly as possible.

So, decide. Do you want a job? Or do you want to build a business?

Work for the sake of work is ultimately an exhausting enterprise. All pain, no gain. Working to build something that can then run itself can provide a lifestyle most would love, but few can ever achieve.

Don't worry so much about doing what you love--just love what you do.

Fall in love with what you are building, and what it will do for you in the long run. In order for your business to thrive, it must become much more than a job like it is now... it must possess the ability to grow.