The Turn-Key Revolution

This is the ninth in my series of E-Myth Revisited posts. The E-Myth Revisited examines the core myth behind what people believe an Entrepreneur is and what it takes in reality to make a small business successful. This series of posts will cover the core topics explained in the E-Myth Revisited book and apply them to being a Wealthy Affiliate and making money online. Links to the complete list of posts in this series can be found at:

The Turn-Key Revolution

The idea of the Turn-Key Revolution is arguably one of the most interesting and valuable concepts in the E-Myth. The Turn-Key Revolution began with Ray Kroc and the creation of the McDonald's franchise. If you're not aware, Ray Kroc didn't create the first McDonald's. The McDonald's brothers did. Ray Kroc came in to the first McDonald's to sell them a shake machine and was so impressed with how well their business ran he bought the franchise rights.

The Business Format Franchise

Prior to Ray Kroc creating the McDonald's franchise, most, if not all, franchises were trade name franchises. You licensed the rights to use the name in your business, such as a Cadillac dealership, but everything else was up to you how you ran the business.

Ray Kroc by contrast created a business format franchise. He wasn't selling the name, he was selling a complete business system. Every piece of the business is detailed for the business owner. How long to cook the fries. When to flip the burgers. Where to put the fryers and the stoves. The McDonald's brothers had already figured out the best way to do all of this. Ray Kroc documented it all and franchisee's just needed to duplicate the process.

The key point is it doesn't matter if you want to franchise your business or not. The process of preparing a business to be franchised is the model for creating a mature business. You're creating a business model that runs so well that someone would want to buy it, even if the only person that does is you.

Does This Apply Online?

While this the Turn-Key Revolution is probably the most important idea in the E-Myth, does it really apply online? There's no point creating a million McDonald's websites because every website is accessible to anyone that can get online. While the business format franchise model can be used to create a single business, how much of this process can actually be transferred online? We'll look more a this coming up.