What You’ll Learn

James interviewed Michael Gerber twice on his radio show in the early 2000s, an hour each time. In this session he applies Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited to what’s happening with AI right now — and lands on three questions worth asking yourself today.

Working In It vs Working On It

Gerber’s central finding was that most people who thought they were entrepreneurs were working in their business rather than on it. He put rough numbers on it: around 70% technicians, 20% managers, and only 10% genuinely entrepreneurial.

His framing of the difference stuck with James. A technician works in the present. A manager works in the past, fixing what already happened. An entrepreneur works in the future.

💡 In Plain English: Doing the work is being a technician. Deciding what work should exist at all is being an entrepreneur. AI makes it very easy to stay a technician who moves faster.

The Test: What Did You Actually Do This Week?

James asks you to be honest about the last two years of using these tools. Look at the actual tasks. You wrote an email faster. You ran a search. You had a lesson created. You wrote a post quickly.

All of that is working in your business. You found a way to do the same things faster. That’s the whole change.

The Alarm That No Longer Rings

This is the sharpest point in the session, and it’s the reason the E-Myth trap is worse now than it was in 1986.

Historically you found out you were working in your business because you burned out. You got physically and mentally tired, and the exhaustion was the alarm bell that made you stop and fix it.

“Now, here’s the problem with AI. That alarm is now removed. It never rings.”

You now have something available around the clock that never gets tired and never pushes back. The signal that used to force a rethink is gone.

The Three Questions

1. What does my AI do in my business?

Write the list out. Sorting email, drafting documents, building slide decks, following up, creating lesson content, social posts. Everything.

2. What does my business do with AI without me?

Now the harder one. Of that list, what runs when you aren’t there? For most people the honest answer is nothing, because every item required you to start it.

3. Which boxes could I hand over entirely?

Gerber’s advice was to franchise your own business — not to start a franchise, but to box up parts of it with playbooks and procedures until each box no longer needs you. Clear one box and you’re freed to work on the next.

✓ Check Your Work: Draw the boxes. Write a description for each. If you can’t describe a box well enough for someone else to run it, it isn’t a box yet — it’s still a job you’re doing.

Why Single Agents Don’t Solve It

James’s objection to the “make an agent for that” approach is that a standalone agent is usually just a skill, or a task done faster. You’re handing one job to one employee and still managing it yourself. That’s the manager seat, not the entrepreneur seat.

Bodies used to be expensive and slow, which limited how many you could have. Agents are effectively free, so the constraint moves — now you can have as many as you want and no way to manage them.

⚠️ The consequence: without departments, an org chart and an orchestrator, more agents makes the management problem worse rather than better.

Where It Lands

“Systems run businesses, people run the systems.”

James’s version: he decides what happens in the business, and an orchestration officer handles the rest. One person to manage instead of a roster.

Key Takeaways

• Using AI to do your existing tasks faster is still working in your business, not on it.
• Burnout used to be the alarm that forced a rethink — AI removes it, so you have to check deliberately.
• Ask what your business does with AI when you are not there; that answer is the real measure.
• Box up parts of the business with playbooks until each box runs without you, then move to the next box.
• Adding standalone agents without departments or an orchestrator moves you from technician to manager, not to owner.

Your Next Step

Write today’s task list. Mark every item that ran without you. If the marked column is empty, that’s your starting point — pick the one box you’d most like to never touch again.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber is worth reading in full. The free Campus AI OS is here if you want the departments and orchestrator to hand a box to: trainingsites.io/os