Michael E. Gerber
Author of The E-Myth Revisited and more than 35 other books. Close to 50 years working with small business owners on one question: why do small businesses stay small. Creator of the Eightfold Path and of The Dreaming Room™.
Free live session · Thursday, August 20, 2026 · 4PM PST | 6PM CDT | 7PM EST · 60 minutes
Your business still can't run without you.
There are exactly 8 reasons why.
Michael E. Gerber has spent close to 50 years showing business owners the same map. There are eight distinct roles inside every business. Most owners are stuck playing three of them. On August 20 he will name all eight, help you find the one trapping you, and show you what changes when you stop doing them all yourself.
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Free · 60 minutes · Live Q&A · Replay sent to everyone who registers
You know the shape of it.
Nothing ships without your approval. The supplier only answers you. The forecast lives in your head. You have not taken a real week off in two years, and the one thing that would actually change the business is the thing you never get to.
You are not disorganized and you are not behind.
You are doing eight jobs at once, and nobody has ever shown you that they are eight separate jobs.
If you cannot leave your business for two weeks without something breaking, you are not disorganized and you are not behind. You are doing eight jobs at once, and nobody has ever shown you that they are eight separate jobs.
The business is working and revenue is up. And every decision still routes back to you. The supplier only answers you. The one thing you never seem to get to is the thing that would actually change the business.
Michael E. Gerber has spent close to 50 years on this exact problem. He is the author of The E-Myth Revisited and more than 35 other books on why small businesses stay small, and his work has reached millions of owners in the same position. He calls the map the Eightfold Path: eight distinct roles that every business needs someone to hold. The Dreamer, the Thinker, the Storyteller, the Leader, the Designer, the Builder, the Launcher, the Grower. Most owners hold all eight, which is why nothing moves.
In 60 minutes he will name all eight roles, walk through the four stages every business passes through, a job, a practice, a business, and an enterprise, and help you locate exactly where yours is stuck.
Lara Guevara, founder of Move Supply Chain, will take that map into a business that ships physical products. The supplier relationship that lives in one inbox. The reorder nobody else is allowed to handle. What handing those off actually requires.
This is not a motivation session. You will be able to name the role you are trapped in and the one thing to change first.
Who is Michael E. Gerber?
Michael E. Gerber is the author of The E-Myth Revisited and more than 35 other books on why small businesses stay small. For close to 50 years, his work has shaped how small business owners understand the difference between working in their business and working on it. Millions of owners have used his framework to get out of the day to day.
His central claim is uncomfortable and, for most people who hear it, immediately true: most people do not own a business. They own a job with worse hours.
The Eightfold Path is his map out of that. He is the creator of The Dreaming Room™, where owners do the first four steps of it.
What is the Eightfold Path?
The Eightfold Path is a framework created by Michael E. Gerber that identifies eight distinct roles every business owner has to play: the Dreamer, the Thinker, the Storyteller, the Leader, the Designer, the Builder, the Launcher, and the Grower. Each role produces one thing the business needs, from the dream and the vision through to the business and the enterprise. Gerber's argument, developed over close to 50 years of work with small business owners, is that most owners are stuck playing three or four of these roles at once and never grow into the rest.
The 8 roles, and what each one produces
| The role | What it produces | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| The Dreamer | The Dream | What do I want this to become? |
| The Thinker | The Vision | What does that look like, built? |
| The Storyteller | The Purpose | Why would anyone care? |
| The Leader | The Mission | Who does what, by when? |
| The Designer | The Job | How does the work get done once? |
| The Builder | The Practice | How does it get done the same way every time? |
| The Launcher | The Business | How does it run without me doing it? |
| The Grower | The Enterprise | How does it grow beyond one me? |
Most owners are living almost entirely in roles five and six. That is the whole problem, and it is fixable once you can see it.
Which of the four stages is your business actually in?
The second half of the framework describes what you actually own right now. Read these and pick yours honestly.
- 1
A job. You do the work. If you stop, it stops.
- 2
A practice. You have help. Nobody can decide without you. If you stop, it slows, then it stops.
- 3
A business. A system produces the result and you run the system. You can disappear for two weeks.
- 4
An enterprise. It runs without you and you are building what is next.
Most owners are certain they have a business. They have a practice. That is not a failure, it is a stage, and almost nobody is ever handed the map.
What will you learn in this session?
- All eight roles, named, so you stop feeling generally overwhelmed and start seeing eight specific jobs.
- Which of the four stages you are actually in, and what it takes to move up one.
- The role you are trapped in, which for most owners is the same one, and why that happens.
- What each role looks like in a business that ships physical product, from Lara Guevara: the supplier relationship in one inbox, the reorder decision nobody else can make, the spec that only exists in an email from March.
- A live answer from Michael if you bring a real question.
Who is this session for?
- Owners and founders doing roughly $500K to $15M who are still the final decision on everything
- Consumer brand and e-commerce operators walking into peak season already stretched
- COOs and operators who inherited a business designed around one person
- Anyone who cannot take two weeks off without something breaking
Not for you if you want tactical supply chain training, or you are pre-revenue with no operation yet to redesign.
Your speakers
Lara Guevara
Founder of Move Supply Chain. Seventeen years in supply chain, enterprise first, then direct to consumer. Industrial engineer and operator, not a framework consultant. Lara left a staffing company to build Move on purpose, and built it as a system rather than a set of hours for sale. Based in the Philippines, working with consumer brands across the US, UK, EU, and Australia.
There is a moment most business owners hit and cannot name.
What is The Dreaming Room?
Today's session is a free introduction to Michael E. Gerber's work, not The Dreaming Room™ itself. Michael will explain how the full program works at the end of the session.
The Dreaming Room™ is a program created by Michael E. Gerber that takes business owners through the first four roles of the Eightfold Path: the Dreamer, the Thinker, the Storyteller, and the Leader. Those four produce an owner's dream, vision, purpose, and mission. Unlike the later four, they cannot be delivered as a lecture, so they are done as guided work.
You do not need to buy anything to attend, and everything taught in the hour is yours to keep.
Frequently asked questions
This is a live conversation, not a recorded course. Michael is answering questions from the people in the room. Register now so you get the reminders and the link.
Save My Seat for August 20Free · 60 minutes · Replay sent to all registrants