I was reviewing one of my favorite books the other day, and one of them is The eMyth Revisited by Michael Gerber. It is a book that will remind you that you really should build your internet business just like Ray Crock did at McDonald's.
A lot of people mistakenly believe that The eMyth is about the electronics age, or email, or e-commerce, but actually, E is for entrepreneurial myth. In The eMyth Gerber goes through an example of how McDonald's 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 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 McDonald's run like a finely oiled machine. It gives the consistency of experience at every McDonalds that you go to. In fact, I’ve been to McDonald's in Tokyo and Korea, in Texas, in Tennessee, they’re all the same.
Actually, as a side note, McDonald's in Tokyo also serves noodles, which kind of freaked me out a little bit, but that’s neither here nor there.
Do You Build Your Internet Business Like McDonalds?
So, the point is if you systemize your business you can give the consistency of customer experience. The other point is you can build your internet business where it can easily be run by someone else or sold. That’s what makes McDonalds franchisable.
When somebody buys a McDonald's shop, they’re buying a turnkey business that makes it possible for anyone who’s got the money to invest in buying a McDonald's and being successful on a very predictable schedule. The great thing about McDonald's 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 McDonald's can help you build your internet business? Well, the same two ideas apply. If you can 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 someday 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 a third benefit, and that is if you have a successful business and 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, build your internet business like McDonald's 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
Mark, I agree with Kent. Good stuff, indeed!
Another benefit to systematizing your Internet business is that if your computer were to go down for an extended period of time or you were out ill for a while or some other unexpected problem occurred, someone could come along and know exactly what to do to run your business.
Mark,
Another great post, thanks.
You are right, the faster I can create a system, the faster I can delegate everything I do to employees. After months of trying to do it all myself (and not getting very far), I’m ready to outsource.
Thanks again for not trying to sell us Frank’s list building system.
Awesome post and great points, Mark! And nice walk down memory lane with those Big Mac ingredients! LOL
I have been working on simplifying my business, first off, to help myself. Also, like you mention, I’d like to teach others to do what I do. People have been bugging me for years to write an ebook or a course about the children’s mail business. And the other benefit would be getting my kids to help me run things, as well. Or maybe even an assistant that’s not related. 😉
Every 8 minutes? Still today? Wow!!
Good stuff Mark. I like the way you and Josh Spaulding operate real businesses. Not to name drop, but I’m blown away by the systems Jason Fladliem has set up – and no I don’t promote his products. I think he’s the next Russell Brunson. You just get fired up watching those guys work systems.
I don’t really know him — but thanks for the tip. I will check him out.
Regards,
Mark
Hey Mark!
Good old E-Myth! I have a copy that is probably over 10yrs old. I also have the VHS of his “Small Business Success 7 point plan for growing your business. I would love to share ideas about how to grow an internet marketing business the good old fashioned way. Drop me a line!
Steve
Ray Kroc had a great idea – he should have called it “Mess Control”
Hey Mark,
Even though I really dislike McDonalds on many many fronts there is no denying that from a business model standpoint they have truely have done something remarkable.
I never want a fully turnkey business as I like myself to shine through, although I am looking to automate many parts of my business and I enjoyed the analogies in this post.
Hello Mark
I haven’t made a dollar online as yet, mainly because I keep looking but not taking action.
Getting bombarded daily with offers eg List Control and many others.
Information overload, what is real and works?
Is there a system for marketing online that like Mcdonalds once you have taken the actions within that system will achieve the results promised.
Any help with working out the direction I should take would be much appreciated.
Howdy Mark!
So where exactly do I put that darn pickle? 🙂
Outsourcing sounds great! And outsourcing, I know, provides much-needed employment for many skilled Filipinos. I sincerely appreciate your suggestions on outsourcing.
Jaime
I too am so glad your not promoting Frank Kern it looks like every affiliate marketer and his mother are falling over themselves to promote it and offering mountains of bonuses to buy through them, thank goodness we have you and Josh to tell us how it really is, keep up the good work and a nice article about Macdonalds
Mark great tips. I have been using outsourcing for a few tasks and it has been a big help freeing up my time to focus on more “money” tasks.
BTW.. Glad to see you dumped that side scrolling pop up 🙂
A good how to article about branding your Website http://newsletters.loungelizard.com/apr2009_libation/
Its a good example which you have given that business of McDonalds.Yes the McDonalds business is completely systemized and we should try to build a internet business like McDonalds.With systematic business we can grow it easily without spending more time.