Table of Contents
Which are the best books about business that you should read in 2021? Read the article to find out!
Introduction
You might be tired with your 9-5 job and want to jump into starting your own online business, but like most people, you decide to start right away without acquiring any knowledge about entrepreneurship.
Guess what? You’re wrong.
Most new entrepreneurs believe only offline business requires intensive training. Online business isn’t any different.
As a matter of fact, the reason why most online business entrepreneurs fail is that they believe it’s easier to manage an online business than setting up a real offline business.
Whether you’re launching your business online or offline you must learn the basic rules of entrepreneurship and there is no university or college on earth that can teach you the business skills you need.
The only way to learn about entrepreneurship is by reading books from successful entrepreneurs who have made a lot of mistakes and have found out solutions to the problems they’ve encountered so that you can learn from such mistakes.
If you’re serious about entrepreneurship you should learn all the techniques and lessons from individuals who have traveled the same road you want to travel and become addicted to reading.
One of the secrets of every successful entrepreneur is consistent reading. Read about growth and self-development consistently and one day you’ll reach your dreamland.
In this article, I’m going to share important books written by experts who have built multibillion-dollar businesses right from e-commerce to real offline businesses, but before that, I’ll share some benefits of reading books written by successful entrepreneurs.
As a new entrepreneur, you’ll find a lot of inspiration from reading books. Books will give you insights about the business world whether offline or online.
The most successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett are addicted to books.
Bill Gates is currently said to read at least one book per week.
Warren Buffett has a favorite quote that goes “the more you learn the more you earn”.
Learning never stops for any successful entrepreneur. Succeeding in the business world isn’t only about doing a specific task each day. It’s a combination of skills that one has to acquire.
Here Is What You Should Know About Reading If You Really Want To Be A Successful Entrepreneur.
All successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common: they read a lot. Let’s look at some case studies to prove the statement above is right.
Warren Buffett spends 80% of his time reading every single day. Bill Gates makes sure that he reads at least one book per week. Mark Zuckerberg reads one book every two weeks and he shares it on his online-book club.
Oprah Winfrey when asked about reading, said she’s obsessed with books. Every month she chooses a new collection of books to read.
The simple truth is that successful entrepreneurs read like there isn’t any tomorrow left. Books will provide you with self-education and self-improvement, and of course the success you want in everything as long as you implement what you’ve learned from these books.
Reading the right books will help you come up with new business ideas and will help motivate you along the way.
How Is Reading Useful To You As An Entrepreneur?
You’ll Develop Good Cognitive Skills
Verbal intelligence. Making the right decisions and a good memory is a must for new entrepreneurs, and there is no better way to build such skills other than reading.
The more you read the more you learn. Reading stimulates memory areas inside your brain and helps you have a strong memory, and it helps to improve your verbal intelligence.
Reading Helps Boost Your Brain Power
If you have noticed the most successful entrepreneurs aren’t the smartest in the room, but due to consistent reading, their brain power is boosted. They end up achieving extraordinary results.
When you read every day you’ll wake up every day with a new smarter brain, if you want to do things better stick to reading.
Reading Increases Your Communication Skills
Once you start reading, the way you talk to people will definitely change because reading is like hearing the book author speaking to you, and in no time you’ll begin to start talking like them.
You’ll begin to realize how sentences and words are used during business meetings and public speeches.
Reading and oral skills go together, the more you read the better oral skills you’ll have.
Helps Reduce Stress
Studies show that reading helps reduce stress better than any other form of activity.
Reading will help you explore more possibilities. It helps you develop a positive mind which is crucial if you want to achieve greatness in your life.
Research conducted by the University of Sussex shows that reading can reduce stress levels by up to 68%.
Reading Helps You Cultivate Mind Theories
Focusing on reading will give you the ability to understand other people’s emotional and mental states. This is crucial for anyone that wants to thrive in the entrepreneurship world. This is what’s called the theory of mind.
That’s to understand other peoples belief knowing that it’s different from yours. This will help you as an entrepreneur to come up with effective business strategies that are applicable to different individuals in the society.
No amount of words can express the benefits of reading, but just imagine this: when you read a book you’re learning life experiences from different authors. These authors have been through various challenges in life and are sharing it to the world, wouldn’t it be wise to learn from the most successful entrepreneurs with decades of experience? If you can’t understand this concept as an entrepreneur, then I must say you’ll hardly succeed in your journey, just keep reading until you die and you’ll thank me for it.
Now that you’ve seen some of the benefits of reading, it’s time to share with you some powerful books that will change the way you think and your life in general.
Most of these books I’m about to share in this article are recommended by some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world.
1) Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales From The World Of Wall Street by John Brooks
Just to let you know how valuable this amazing book is I want to tell you the testimonial it received from the richest man on earth, Bill Gates, he said; “Business Adventures remains the best business book I’ve ever read”.
So you can see you don’t even need someone to convince you to buy this book. Bill Gates has remained the No.1 richest man on earth for many years and yet the book “Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street” remain the best book he has read regarding business.
You’ll benefit a lot from this exceptional book as an entrepreneur.
This book talks about the most successful companies on earth and how they achieved such massive success. You’ll learn what the $350M Ford Motor companies did to reach to where they’re now. They have faced a lot of disasters and still, they rose to the top.
The author, John Brooks, shares what all these companies have in common and what makes them leaders in their industry like no one else.
Inside the book, you’ll read stories about Wall Street which was infused with adventures and drama. He reveals the real nature of the financial world we’re living in.
As an entrepreneur the lessons you’ll learn in the Business Adventures are endless. Every successful entrepreneur has read about Business Adventures written by John Brooks.
It’s time for you to visit your favorite bookstore (or Amazon) and grab a copy of this book because you’ll be glad you did when you realize and understand how the business and entrepreneurship world works.
John Brooks was an amazing author because everyone loves his writing style. He lived from 1920 to 1993. He has received numerous awards regarding his publications. He is well known for contributing to New Yorker as their financial journalist.
John Brooks has successfully written 10 books on finance and business, the most popular ones are the Business Adventures and The Go-Go Years. These two books make John Brooks a legend.
Though the author is remembered only for his business and financial publications, he has also written 3 novels and has written reviews for the New York Times and Harper’s magazine.
If you’re really hungry to succeed in the entrepreneurship world this book should be in your top reading list, whether you’re launching an online or offline business you should definitely start with this book because it will help you a lot.
2) The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book On Value Investing by Benjamin Graham, Jason Zweig, Warren E. Buffett.
Benjamin Graham is well known as the best business adviser of the 20th century, The man has inspired a lot of people worldwide and many people have succeeded by implementing his advice.
He has a philosophy called the “value investing”. His value investing theories help investors avoid lots of errors when it comes to making financial decisions.
The Intelligent Investor book teaches people how to come up with long-term strategies that will be beneficial to their business.
“The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing” is one of the most valuable assets you could have as an entrepreneur. Jump into this book without any further delay!
It was first published in around 1949, but a new edition was republished in 2005 and some additions were made by John Bogle who initiated the Vanguard Mutual Fund. The book has received a lot of praises from the most successful investors.
Warren Buffett, who is currently one of the best investors on earth said; “By far the best book on investing ever written”.
Here is a little summary on what this book is all about:
- You should not solely focus on not losing money. Your goal as an investor shouldn’t be not to lose money. You should clearly understand the line between speculating and investing. You don’t have to be a speculator all the time and if you want to get rich very quick, you’ll definitely lose in the game.
- It teaches the basics of market behavior. You can’t just go ahead and sell your stocks just because the market suddenly crashes. The book highlights on how to invest carefully and how to get long-term profits.
- Benjamin Graham is known by most as the father of value investing. Warren Buffett is among his best disciples that have succeeded from Benjamin’s advice that is inside the Intelligent Investor.
Any entrepreneur that wants to heavily invest in the stock market should consider reading this book before making their first investment.
The value investing theories are time-tested. You’ll learn how to choose your stocks carefully and then hold them for long-term. That’s what Warren Buffett does and look at where he is right now, and he is among the top 5 richest people on earth.
If you want to be a successful investor like Warren Buffet you can’t afford to miss this powerful book. For a few dollars, you’ll learn how to make millions if not billions. The value inside the book is worth the little investment you make in buying this book.
3) The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms To Fail by Clayton M. Christensen
Another important book which every entrepreneur should read if they want success in their business.
This book points out that businesses fail not only because they’ve done the wrong things but also because they did right in almost everything, this includes meeting customer’s needs, disruptive technologies, and future opportunities.
The Innovator’s Dilemma outlines how to use radical thinking in order to elevate your business and company as an entrepreneur. The author has cited a lot of examples from giant companies that have risen and fallen in the world of business in various industries such as automobiles, retail, pharmaceuticals, computers, and steel.
The author Clayton M. Christensen explains deeply how one can avoid massive failures that lead to the fall of many companies even though they did things right. The author’s principle is that not every time you have to meet the demands of your customers in order to succeed, but you have to do this in the right way or you’ll lose them all.
He also explains why there are certain times where you should pursuit smaller markets instead of the larger ones. He explains how to plan your business for long-term profit and growth.
The Innovator’s Dilemma is an award-winning book which shows managers and entrepreneurs how to achieve long-term success in business.
The book was written continuously for the past two decades (since 1997) by Clayton M. Christensen.
Sometimes responding to new technologies can cause business ventures to fail and you’ll learn in this book how to avoid doing so and do things the right way.
The author’s belief is that new technologies are emerging every now and then but not all the time you can fall them. You have to do things wisely or you’ll fail even though you’ve done things right.
He has provided examples and case studies for all his claims and as an entrepreneur, you need to understand these principles before starting your own company. The author isn’t against new technologies but instead, he provides a recipe for managers so that they can stay successful even with the birth of new technologies.
In short, The Innovator’s Dilemma is an engaging book every entrepreneur can benefit from. The book received mostly positive feedback from readers.
Influential leaders in business have recommended this book a lot and that’s something you don’t want your book collection to miss. If you‘re really interested in business and you’re aiming for a long-term success, you should definitely consider buying this book.
4) The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs And Their Radically Rational Blueprint For Success by William N. Thorndike
The Outsiders is among the reading list of one of the most successful investors we have today, Warren Buffett. He said it’s an outstanding book for CEOs that want to excel in business management.
This book is also recommended by billionaire Charlie Munger. The book is among a collection of 19 books which he recommends every entrepreneur should read.
The Outsiders is a book that explains how extraordinary CEOs achieve such a great success in their business management career. The author took a different radical approach to train new and existing entrepreneurs on how to excel in business management.
The book outlines what it takes to be a great CEO in any company whether it’s your company or someone else’s company. You’ll learn what really matters when it comes to running a successful organization. You’ll get to know the hallmark of great CEO performances.
One of the greatest principles that matters when it comes to running a business organization is bringing a high-profit return to shareholders for long-term and this is exactly what this books will teach you.
The book was written by Will Thorndike and has thrived well in order to teach you how to evaluate the performance of a company.
The book showcases about eight great CEOs who have performed exceptionally well in order to outperform their competitors. The investment made by these investors is almost worth 100x in the future. You don’t necessarily get to know the names of these CEO’s but you’ll be able to identify the companies they run and how you could be able to achieve the same.
Some of these companies include; Berkshire, Washington post Company, Hathaway, TCI, Capital Cities Broadcasting, Teledyne and General Dynamics. With the advice in this amazing book, you’ll learn strategies that will make you a unique leader and also achieve exceptional results.
The Outsiders is a true life changer when it comes to business and entrepreneurship, if you’re really serious about building a business that can generate consistent profit in the long term run you should definitely buy this book.
A lot of readers suggest that this book is the best business and investment book one can ever read.
The Outsiders focus on giving CEOs the best job they can do in order to grow their company. Every CEO can benefit from this book. As a CEO you shouldn’t think twice before purchasing this eBook, don’t wait anymore and grab yourself a copy!
5) How To Win Friends & Influence People BY Dale Carnegie
Business is all about people. Once you understand this concept you can almost get anything you want.
The book “How to Win Friends & Influence People” has some basic principles which if followed will allow you to influence people and achieve your desired goals.
You can pursue any job you want and get it. You can improve your current job and take it to the next level, and in short, you can improve any situation in your life or business and still achieve the best results. You will discover strong principles in this amazing book without spending much out of your pocket. You don’t need to attend expensive seminars in order to learn these secrets, things have been outlined for you to help you influence people in the real world.
Dale Carnegie’s solid strategies are time-tested strategies that have been used by great successful people which have achieved maximum success in their business and personal life.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie is one of the bestselling books of all time. Dale mentioned in the book how you can make people like you instantly and immediately without any sweat. Remember for someone to accept your offers or buy from you they have to like you, no matter what the benefits are, liking is the first strong factors that influence sales.
You’ll learn 12 ways you can use on people to like your ideas and way of thinking. You don’t just want a person to like you but also to agree with your opinions and ideas, and that’s exactly what influence is all about.
The author explains nine ways in which you can change people’s thoughts without resentments. You’ll learn a lot from this book. If you want to learn how to influence people either in business or any aspect of your life, this is a must book for the 21st-century entrepreneurs that want to connect with people.
How to Win Friends & Influence People have sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
How to Win Friends & Influence People is the first book written by Dale Carnegie. The book has touched millions of souls worldwide and is continuously impacting the lives of many people worldwide.
Why don’t you grab yourself a copy now and see how it can improve your business. Once you’ll learn the game between people everything becomes easier in your life, be it business or relationship. Don’t wait any longer before you start reading this exceptional book.
6) The Art Of War by Sun Tzu
When you look at the title of the book you might think the book is all about war, but that’s not the case. Yes, war strategies have been mentioned in the book a lot of times but the aim of the author isn’t to prepare you to win wars, but instead use the tactics in everyday life.
You should be able to apply the strategies to your employees, family and people in general. The concepts of The Art Of War can be applied to any modern situation. In order to understand the concepts of this book, you have to replace the terms with the modern situation we’re living. The book is aimed at helping individuals to solve major and minor disruptions in their life.
It is a book that will guide you on how to be well disciplined, not only that, but it also shows entrepreneurs on how to be creative in every aspect of life.
Whether you’re a writer, an artist, scientist or you’re just someone that wants to create something but you can’t because of too many distractions within your surroundings or may be due to fear and doubts, this is a must read book for you if you want to succeed by eliminating any barrier that’s stopping from achieving the success you want.
The author has pointed out one single and important aspect that if understood well will help you bring out the potential inside you. This is what Sun Tzu called resilience; you’ll understand how to overcome this problem once and for all. The author explains doing work for the sake of doing work.
You’ll definitely be blown with the amazing concept of this book and you’ll be able to start working and improving anything you want in your life and still achieve maximum results.
If you really want to achieve something great you really don’t need to worry about the fruits, just work for the sake of doing the work and the reward will follow later as long as you provide immense value to people.
A lot of successful people have credited their success to this book because of the strategies mentioned by Tzu. Don’t care and just do the work and a lot of people will be shocked by the success you’ll achieve in your life. You will be able to develop work ethics that no one could imagine you can develop.
If you’re an entrepreneur that wants to create something, this is a must book for you. The Art Of War is truly a life changer for those that want to create something meaningful in their life.
It’s a book written in about 500 B.C., but if you can open your mind and understand the concept you’ll understand it’s not an old book.
7) Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill has put together a lot of effort in this book. Almost everyone and every article online is recommending this book. This powerful book is a product of research for almost two decades.
Think and Grow Rich is a must read for every entrepreneur. It’s the best investment you can make when it comes to books.
It was first published in 1937. Inside this book, you’ll learn a lot of philosophies that will help you personally as an individual and in business. Napoleon Hill conducted research on the richest man on earth at that time whose main source of income was from the steel industry. Hill came up with 13 steps which he believes anyone that wants to obtain massive success should understand these strategies, because they’re time tested strategies that have helped a lot of people.
The author also reveal 17 principles of success that are crucial for any entrepreneur. These are amazing concepts that will help your businesses and companies.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is among the most popular business books that are available at the moment. If you haven’t read this book it’s time to get a copy as it costs only a few bucks.
The concepts in this book have transformed many lives. It helps you as an entrepreneur to develop a definite purpose, how to build a positive mental attitude. Using the power of subconscious mind and how to deal with adversity. This is something that almost every entrepreneur goes through. Napoleon Hill is a funny and humble man, his philosophies are recognized worldwide.
The concepts of this book are more than just earning more money, they also play a vital role in personal development, and in short, you can apply his concepts in almost every aspect of your life.
The book is somehow old but it has already addressed the challenges we’re facing now. Think and Grow Rich will teach you how to make the right decisions, how to plan well.
The author has explained well on the importance of team work. If you want to achieve great things you have to use leverage, period.
You need to read the book multiple times and make sure that you understand what it’s all about. Most of the millionaires of this generation will recommend this book. There is a case study of someone that moved to North America in his early 30’s and couldn’t speak a word of English and after reading this book about 20 times, he was able to achieve financial freedom within a decade, he become a millionaire after just one decade.
So you see the power of this book. Think and Grow Rich has produced a lot of millionaires who have started with nothing. Don’t hesitate to read this amazing book, just go for it!
8) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey.
Another powerful book that must be added to this entrepreneurship reading list. Habits can make you or break you. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is an effective book that is recognized worldwide and the one that will make you develop strong habits.
The author Stephen R. Covey has outlined effective principles that need to be applied when solving any problem, whether professional, personal or business problems. This is a step by step guide that can help individuals solve any challenge or problem they’re facing in their life. The book will help you live a life with integrity and you’ll learn tested and proven principles that will give you the security you need in order to adapt to changes. You’ll also discover the opportunities that are hidden in the changes you’ll ever come across your life.
It’s not just a business book that shows entrepreneurship, it also provides individuals with self-improvement tips and strategies.
The author tells readers that the world is based on how one perceives it. The first step towards changing any problem is by changing ourselves first and before you change yourself you have to change your perceptions. You’ll learn a lot from this book if you’re the type that is eagerly looking for ways to transform yourself.
Everyone in his life wants to succeed at something and success is all about habits. The book will show you the habits you need to succeed in your journey. It’s a long and yet informational book that’s over 400 pages. If you want to overcome the problems in your life don’t miss this book.
From the beginning of the book the author tries to explain why even successful people are struggling with personal development and why they’re having difficulties in maintaining healthy relationships with other individuals. He shows you how to perceive things in the real world on your own terms and principles. You’ll learn how to define success for yourself and achieve the success you’ve always dreamed of.
The author states that the problem is how we see the problem, we have to go through paradigm shifts ir order to change ourselves. Changing our attitudes and behavior isn’t the only parameters that are needed in order to solve a problem or change ourselves.
- The first 3 habits mentioned focus on self mastery, and shifting yourself from dependence to independence.
- While the next 3 habits are based on collaboration, team work and developing communication skills. At these phase one should move from independence to interdependence.
- While the 7th habit mentioned is all about continuously growing and improving yourself.
If you want to transform your inner self, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of the best books you’ll ever read.
9) The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
A very high percentage of startups fail within a short time but with the right approach these failures can be prevented. About 50% of businesses fail within the very first year they’re created and remaining ones also are bound to fail within just 3 years.
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries talks about the various strategies that can be implemented to avoid new start up failure in business or in other areas of life. According to the author a start up is any organization or company that wants to create a new product or something new with extreme uncertainty. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a company or an individual starting out in a garage. All startups have a common mission, that’s to remove such uncertainty and discover new paths to sustain their business.
The Lean Startup doesn’t waste much time explaining how to create a good business plan. It gives entrepreneurs new strategies to create something new. As an entrepreneur you learn how to adjust and adapt before things get worse.
The author provides proven scientific methods that are required in order to launch a successful start up, and how to innovate more of your ideas and bring them to reality. The recommendations of the book is something that every new start up should learn about. You have to test your ideas first before expecting to start making profit. That’s what the author explained in the first few chapters of this amazing book. You don’t need to listen to other people’s opinions all the time, monitor and evaluate your customers first and then everything will be alright in the end.
Start giving your customers a modest offering and then continue to build your product based on that aspect and provide more value to the marketplace. You will understand that things will not go right from the beginning and still you have to be strong enough to try over and over again testing your ideas.
It’s a must read book for any serious entrepreneur out there. Successful CEO’s like Jeffry Immelt, from General Electric motors ask all his managers to read this book.
The value in this book is unlimited and is something every beginner entrepreneur should learn about if they want to succeed greatly. Not only entrepreneurs, managers of all kinds shouldn’t miss this book.
As you already know uncertainty is among the killer of new start ups and there is no better book out there that shows you how to tackle this problem than The Lean Startup.
10) Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
When you look at the name of this book you know that it’s designed to take you to the next level. For most entrepreneurs good isn’t enough, they want to achieve great results, this is exactly what you’ll learn this book called “Good to Great” written by Jim Collins.
He explains how good companies take their business to the next level and become great companies. He explains how most companies end up failing when they’re unable to make the right transitions.
Good to Great was first published in 2001 and in the book the author defined greatness as a financial performance where companies perform better in the market than the average company for a long period of time.
Good to Great is a well-researched book that is aimed at providing immense value to the reader. Collins and his team made a good job by putting together this book for entrepreneurs. It is something that every entrepreneur should read before they begin their entrepreneurship journey. CEO’s and managers must read this book.
Collins made a lot of research to find out why some companies are great and why others remain the typical average company. First, he addresses the challenge faced by companies and then shows the reader how well known great companies triumph for a long period of time. He shows the fundamental things that need to be done right from the beginning if you want to take your business to the next level.
Collins explains how even the worst companies can rise and achieve greatness. He made a lot of efforts to find out whether companies can defy gravity and still yield long-term profit or are they going to fail.
He also discovered the universal laws that will make any company rise from good to great. Collins and his team provide a lot of case studies from companies that did really well and how they move from good to great. These companies have produced high cumulative stock returns than most mediocre companies that currently exist.
He made a lot of comparisons between good companies and the great ones that yield extraordinary results.
Whether you’re a new entrepreneur or already have your own company or business you need to listen to what this man is talking about because it will definitely transform your business for good.
You won’t get hurt by spending a few dollars from your pocket to buy this amazing book. You’ll wish you have read the book right before starting your entrepreneurship journey.
11) The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind, and Joe Nocera
Next on our list is The Smartest Guys in the Room published by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind, and Joe Nocera. The book was first published in 2003 and later on, in 2005 the book was the adapted to a documentary film called Enron-The Smartest Guy In The Room.
All the authors are Fortune senior writers. McLean has already published an article back in 2001 for the fortune called “Is Enron overpriced”. The Smartest Guys in the Room focused on a lot of interviews and other details from documents, emails, performance reviews and calendars. The book was once a New York Times bestseller and the book has been titled as the best strategy and business book in 2003.
As an entrepreneur, you definitely should take a look at this amazing book because you’ll learn a lot from the interviews that are presented in the book. Even though a movie is made based on the book, it’s better to read the book rather than watching the documentary movie.
Most of the readers of this book are impressed with the substance and the style in which it’s written. This book mainly tells stories in a sequential order and as an entrepreneur, you should be able to understand the concepts the author is telling you.
It’s all about strategizing your business so that you can get maximum exposure. You’ll also learn how to make effective planning for your business. All the strategies mentioned are geared towards isolating and purifying effective methods that work and that are worth looking at and also to discard weak polices that aren’t worth implementing into your business.
The Smartest Guys in the Room has really done well in order to make sure you get a vivid picture of the strategies mentioned and how it will lead you to success. The author writes in such a way that everything seems clear to the reader. It’s a well-written eBook that shouldn’t be missed by entrepreneurs.
Just like most books, it doesn’t cost a fortune to acquire this book. Just a few bucks out of your pocket won’t hurt you, why not give the book a try?
The Smartest Guys in the Room has proven itself to be one of the best business books for entrepreneurs because of the valuable content that’s presented in it. Don’t wait any longer and grab yourself a copy now!
12) Guerilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business by Jay Conrad Levinson, Jeannie Levinson, Amy Levinson
The release of this amazing book in 1983 has truly revolutionized the way small businesses present their product to the market. Guerilla Marketing has outlined simple and effective strategies that can be used to find clients.
This powerful book has solid ideas that really work, the authors have strived really well to come up with 100’s of marketing plans that can be implemented easily by small business owners. The philosophy of the author has given rise to new methods of learning market share and how small businesses can benefit from it.
Jay Conrad Levinson has written almost a dozen books in the in his Guerilla Marketing series. The man knows what he is doing. He is famous for his great work and contributions to the marketing world. He is a former vice president at Leo Burnett Advertising and J. Walter Thompson advertising and he served as the chairman of Guerilla Marketing International that’s helping large firms and small businesses across the globe.
His books and other marketing materials aren’t something you want to miss as an entrepreneur, the author explains that marketing is any form of contact a company has with people living in the outside world. Every contact means that there are lots of opportunities and he explains it’s not all about spending a lot of money on your marketing efforts.
Marketing your business comprises a lot of aspects right from your business name, the determination you have in order to sell a product or a service, the method that’s used to create a product or a service, size, color and shape of the product. Other aspects like the location of business, packaging, public relations, branding are all among the few things you’ll discover in this book that play an important role when it comes to marketing your product or service.
The author went ahead to explain how marketing consists of changing peoples minds and if you want to keep existing clients there is the need to hold and maintain their mindset. Customers want to change brands or buy a new product that’s released in the marketplace every now and then.
He points out that everything you do and say will affect the decision of customers regarding your product. He does all he can to make sure that you do things right so as to ensure that your product sells all the time. Things are not going to happen overnight, sometimes it can take years to achieve the desired results you want for your business. He declares that marketing is not an event that should be done once; it’s a continuous process that never ends as long as your business exists.
This is a must read book for any entrepreneur that wants to learn the art of marketing, so just go ahead and read this book.
13) In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies by Jr. Robert H. Waterman
In Search of Excellence is another powerful must-read book for entrepreneurs. The book has received a lot of accolades from successful entrepreneurs. It was first published in 1982 by Jr. Robert H. Waterman. During that time it was one of the bestselling books, it sold over 3 million copies at that time, and in 1982 this was a huge success for a book writer.
In Search of Excellence focuses on the science and art of management and most companies of the 1980s relied on the concepts of this book in order to manage their business.
Bloomsbury UK labeled the book as the greatest entrepreneur book of all time. In Search of Excellence is a must read for business school students, businesses and entrepreneurs.
It’s based on a study of the best companies in America, 43 to be exact. The author explains 8 principles of business management, profit-maximizing practices, people orientation, and stimulation that take these organizations to the level they’re now. The author insists that for any company or organization to survive, they have to follow these principles.
He goes in depth of each of these 43 companies and comes up with exemplified principles that allow them to achieve massive success. It’s a book that’s well researched and filled with business management practices that actually work up to this date.
That’s why as an entrepreneur if you haven’t read it you should definitely grab a copy now. Running a business is all about managing your team, if you fail to do so you’ll be out of business sooner or later and this book give all the strategies you need to manage your team effectively.
The author shares useful ideas that will help you support and nurture your employees and customers effectively so that they can work fast and are willing to learn so that they can take your business to the next level.
Even though this book was written in the 80s, the main ideas and principles are still applicable in today’s business. As an entrepreneur, you should have a set of values that will encourage and motivate your employees so that they can yield better results for your company.
In Search of Excellence is worth taking a look for every entrepreneur.
14) Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins, Jerry I Porras.
Who doesn’t want his business to last? Everyone does. “Built to Last” is a great book every entrepreneur should read in order to maintain a successful business.
Built to Last is based on a six-year research project by Jim Collins and Jerry I Porras. These guys made a research on top 18 performing companies. They studied what all these companies have in common and what lead them to success. They studied these companies from the beginning of their journey to truly understand their principles and how they operate. They studied the companies at different stages, at startup, at midsize and as larger corporations. Through their journey, they only asked one question, what is it that makes these companies outperform better than any other company out there and what’s the common practice they’ve followed that lead them to success. You’ll all find the answers to these questions in this book. As an entrepreneur, I believe you’re searching for the same answers.
This is the best book that can equip you with knowledge on building a sustainable business that lasts for long. The title of the book speaks for itself.
The ideas shared are meant to help companies stay for long in order to avoid sudden business failure. The authors have cited a lot of examples to support their ideas and principles so that it’s easier for the reader to comprehend these strategies. These concepts can be used at different levels, and they can be used by managers and CEOs and also small business owners.
Jim Collins is well known for his great publications. He has co-written 6 books and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Built to Last is among his books that are rated bestsellers. He has received numerous awards from works, this includes the Distinguished – Teaching – Award in 1992.
Up to this date, Collins still conducts a lot of research on business management strategies. When you look at Collins publications you know that he is a man of value. Built to Last isn’t just an ordinary book, the book is designed to help you as an entrepreneur stay longer in business. ou’ll learn how to build a company that yields long-term profits.
If you’re that type of entrepreneur with the vision of building companies that can last for generations, you can’t afford to skip this book to your reading list. Go and grab it right now and later you’ll be glad you read it.
15) Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferris
In this book, Tim Ferris shares a compilation of tactics, habits, and tools from over 130 world top performers. He made a lot of research on iconic entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, and successful investors.
This book isn’t only about building a business, it also teaches the reader how to be successful at anything they want to achieve whether it’s career or business. You can rely on Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferris to get all the guidance you need before you begin your journey. The author has interviewed world icons at different stages of life from their 20s to 70s and 80s. He found out what made them successful and then shared these ideas in this incredible book.
As an entrepreneur, if you have a lot of questions like how to set powerful and achievable goals, how to make priorities, or how to plan your entire life properly then this book has answers to all these questions, provided you’re an action taker you’ll learn a lot from Tribe of Mentors.
This book is designed to help you reinvent yourself and achieve 10x than what you’re getting. Someone else has already traveled the road you’re on right now and he’s sharing all the ups and downs of this journey with you.
Here Are Some Of The Things You’ll Learn In Tribe Of Mentors By Tim Ferris:
- Powerful morning routines that will help you start your day effectively. He shares more than 50 mourning routines, and these routines are easier to follow both for the people that are struggling to get out of bed early and the early risers.
- He shares ideas on the best way to get things done.
- How to minimize your spending so that you can save and investment more.
- How to deal with failure and reach that success you’ve always dreamed about.
- How to be mindful and meditate in order to be more productive.
- How losing can help strengthen your mind than victory
- How to effectively maintain work-life balance.
- How to clarify your purpose and concentrate on your life priorities without any distractions.
As an entrepreneur, you’ll learn a lot on how to build a successful business and also more on personal development.
Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferris is a wonderful book you don’t want to miss. Get yourself a copy now!
16) Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur you need the right tools that will help you in your journey. Before Timothy Ferriss put together this book he interviewed over 200 top world-class performers to understand what exactly made the icons great. He didn’t limit his research to business, he also made research on celebrities, athletes, and many other icons from different industries.
Tools of Titans contains life lessons from successful entrepreneurs and high performers in different professions. Each of these icons share different tips and strategies that can help anyone achieve success.
The author shares what these icons do the first thing in the morning, he shares the mourning routines for the first 60 minutes of waking up each morning, the type of workout they do and the reason behind it.
They share the type books they’ve read that lead them to success and what do they identify as the biggest time wasters for a newbie who is starting out and much more valuable advice is shared in this book.
Tim Ferris said he only shares ideas that are proven to work and which have been used by him. He applied these principles in some part of his life and has found them helpful. These philosophies have helped him go through high stakes negotiations and also conduct large business dealings successfully. The lessons he shared have earned him millions of dollars in deals and he has learned to save a lot of time along the way.
The ideas shared in the book have saved his life and now he wants to share it with his followers and that’s why he compiled them into a book. He said it changed his life and he wants the same for his readers.
If there is something that will make you succeed really fast as an entrepreneur, it’s finding the right mentor. In this book, you got 100s of mentors that can lift you up to the next level with their ideas that make them be at the top in their field.
You’ll learn a lot on how to deal with your own fears and how to make the right decisions for your business or career. You’ll learn how to leave your comfort zone in order to achieve greatness in your life and to eliminate any distraction that’s stopping you from reaching your goals. These are just a few things included. What you’ll learn in this book will really make a lot of positive changes in your life.
17) Crushing It: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
Crushing It comes from Gary Vaynerchuk who is a very well known entrepreneur. You might have known him for his motivational speeches on various social medial platforms. He is a 4 times New York Times bestselling author.
Gary has put together a lot of lessons in this amazing book that will inspire a lot of entrepreneurs who want to be successful. Gary has done a lot of research on different successful entrepreneurs who had the passion to follow their dreams.
This book will help you to create extraordinary brands. You will learn how to operate a successful business right from scratch without the need to make repetitive mistakes which most entrepreneurs make.
Crushing It was published in 2009 and the author’s main message to the readers is to understand that personal brand is really important if you want to achieve entrepreneurship success. He cites a lot of examples to support his claims.
He has shared principles that no longer work and there are some that are proven to work even in the future. He shares a lot of stories from successful entrepreneurs all over the world that can help inspire new entrepreneurs in their journey.
Gary went ahead to explain how social media platforms can make an impact on entrepreneurs and that most of the successful business leaders we have today rely on social media to build their brands. Not only that, you need to do whatever it takes to pursue your dreams. Of course you’re going to face some challenges but in the end, your efforts are going to pay off. These are some of the few things this book is talking about.
If you’re ready to implement the strategies mentioned in this book you’ll definitely achieve great success in your career.
Gary then explains how each of the major social media sites we have can make an impact in your business. He dissects each of the social media platforms and how they can be utilized.
Whether you’re a small local business owner or a big venture business you have to build a loyal audience on these platforms because every successful business is profiting a lot from these sites.
The overall message Gary want his readers to understand is that you’re the only one who is responsible for building your dream life, whether it’s business or building a happy relationship. You need to believe in yourself and put all the effort required to achieve your dreams.
This is a book you don’t want to skip as an entrepreneur.
18) Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers is another valuable book that has to be included in this list because the book explains clearly why some people achieve a successful and happy life while other people are still struggling to meet their basic ends.
Malcolm Gladwell explains the important things and decisions one has to make in order to achieve their full potential. Malcolm Gladwell explains the different factors that differentiate between the successful and the unknown. He shares what successful people have in common right from computer programmers to geniuses who have made a lot of impact on this world.
He states that success isn’t only about being smart or having a higher IQ, it’s a matter of opportunity and consistent hard work.
In the first few chapters, Malcolm Gladwell explains some of the misconceptions people have about becoming successful in life. He states that the most important things when it comes to achieving success and as an entrepreneur, are that you should understand the basic concepts before starting your journey. Once you get things right everything will be easier, whatever type of business you want to build.
With this book, you’ll understand the type of work ethic that is required in order to be successful. The author shares stories of Jewish immigrants who are in the business of making clothes become successful lawyers and they achieve a great success in their lives. He then moves ahead to explain how Asians became successful from rice padding to excelling at mathematics.
This is a book you’ll enjoy reading as an entrepreneur because it’s written in an engaging style and the message in it can be easily comprehended.
In this book Malcolm Gladwell doesn’t only share his own ideas that made him successful, he also shares research conducted by other successful entrepreneurs.
The author is a very enthusiastic and charming storyteller. The way he explains his ideas without any rambling will make you go over the book multiple times.
He shares the story of one of the most famous computer programmers of all time, Bill Gates. He explains his journey right from the beginning and how he came up with the idea of programming. He tells us the story of Mr. Gates and his dedication towards learning programming. At just the age of 20, Bill Gates has spent over $10’000 learning how to program and that’s why they’re where they’re right now. A strong work ethic is needed in order to achieve anything great in this world.
You’ll drive a lot of inspiration from this book, so go ahead and read it.
19) The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage by Daymond John, Daniel Paisner
The Power of Broke is once a New York Times bestseller. The book was written by Daymond John and Daniel Paisner.
Daymond John is someone that believes in the power of broke because he started his career selling home sewn T-shirts on streets. He started his business with just $40. He decided that he has to figure out ways which he can utilize to promote his business and products on a budget. Considering his budget, things might seem impossible but Daymond still tried to build up his business. Eventually, he launched the FUBU brand which has a net worth of $6 billion dollars globally.
According to Daymond, he wouldn’t have made it if he didn’t start broke. With the drive to succeed he built a billion dollar product by starting with nothing.
This is what this book is going to teach you as an entrepreneur: most of the excuses you get from people nowadays for not starting a business is a lack of money or capital to start a business, but if you read this amazing book you’ll understand that you can launch a successful business even if you’re broke.
The authors explain how being broke can be an advantage to you as an entrepreneur. He believes that starting a business when you’re broke will make you think creatively and bring out a lot of ideas out of your head. Daymond states that only when you’re broke you’ll learn how to use the available resources you have more efficiently and you’ll be able to market your products imaginatively.
Being broke will force you to understand who you truly are. You’ll be able to stay more focused on your goals and on finding solutions to the challenges you’re facing.
You might not believe the idea of starting a business despite being broke but Daymond has already proven his ideas by providing case studies of successful entrepreneurs who’ve started their business on a shoe string budget and have achieved great success.
The book features Gigi Butler who was a cleaner from Nashville and built her cupcake empire. Despite being broke she went all the way to take her business to the next level.
If she can do it why can’t you do it? It’s just a matter of determination and focus.
Another great example he cited was Mo Bridges who started his clothing business with sewing machine of his grandmother, and in the end, things turned out to be good for him.
If you can get the idea of The Power of Broke, then you can succeed at any business in your life. This isn’t a book you want to skip as an entrepreneur.
20) Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity by Charles Duhigg
From the New York Times best seller and the author of the great book “The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg comes with this new fascinating book “Smarter Faster Better“.
A book that helps entrepreneurs to be more productive by using effective business management strategies.
Charles explores the science behind being more productive. He shares strategies you can apply in your life which will result in massive development.
The core of the book “Smarter Faster Better” focuses on 8 concepts of productivity. As an entrepreneur, you’ll learn how to get motivated, make the right decisions and how to effectively set goals.
The author goes in depth explaining why some people and companies accomplish much more than the average human being. Charles derived his ideas from psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics, not only that, but he also went ahead to interview successful CEOs and leaders from various industries so that he can understand how to produce more results effectively in any aspect of life.
He interviewed FBI agents and Airplane pilots, just to make sure that he comes up with a set of principles that are proven to work in any field. He draws his conclusions based on what hyper productive people and companies do to become extremely successful.
In this book, you’ll learn how data scientists at Google conducted a 4 year research on how their best team works. Charles explains all the reasons behind every successful person or company. Smarter Faster Better is a book that explains why we do what we do. Once you’ll figure out the answer to this question you’ll realize that you can accomplish more out of your life.
You’ll learn how to improve your life and business. By applying Charles strategies as an entrepreneur you’ll lead a less stressful life, you’ll be able to get more things done without the need to struggle much. He states that you can accomplish whatever you want without sacrificing the things you care in your life.
When you’re done with this amazing book you’ll learn to be smarter, faster and better just as the book title suggests.
Becoming a successful entrepreneur is all about being smart, getting the right things done and how to be fast because success loves speed. You’ll learn how to be an effective and efficient entrepreneur that has the power to get more things done with a minimum effort.
Smarter Faster Better should be included in your reading list.
21) The Unexpected: Breakthrough Strategies to Supercharge Your Business and Earn Loyal Customers for Life by Howard Brodsky
The Unexpected shows entrepreneurs how they can acquire loyal customers for their business without sweating for it.
The book states an amazing theory that will help you understand the relationship between your services and your customers. The Unexpected consists of 4 elements: memorable, profitable, distinguishable and viral.
This amazing book doesn’t have any expensive strategies or tools. It shows the reader how to focus on creativity, innovation and training your team members so that they can produce more results for your company. It teaches you how to take an advantage of opportunities when they show themselves. The ideas in the book can be used by any organization or industry no matter how big or small.
This book is ideal for different professionals such as business owners, entrepreneurs, educational professionals, employees, senior executives or any manager of an organization.
The Unexpected was written by Howard Brodsky and other co-writers. Howard is a CEO at CCA Global Partners which is a $10 billion dollar company. He shares the ideas that made him to be one of the most successful CEOs. He’s got a lot of experience when it comes to business and employee management and that’s what he’s teaching you in this book.
This is really going to be a life changing book for you as an entrepreneur if you want to learn how to put together a team of productive employees. It shows how to maintain a good relationship with your customers so that they stick to your products and services for a long term.
As a business owner, you already know the importance of good customer service, but the problem is that everyone has their own perception of the word “good”. What might be considered a good customer service for someone else can turn out to be the worst service for your customers. Your aim shouldn’t only be about providing “good service”, it’s rather about meeting the needs of your customers and also adding unexpected extra value to your services that will thrill your customers. This will get them hooked to your services for a long time.
If you’re looking for ways to take your business to the next level, especially in terms of customer acquisition and want to hold your customers for a lifetime, The Unexpected is your best friend because it will show you how to get new customers without spending much. The author shows how to spend less and still acquire more customers for your business.
This is not a customer service book. It goes beyond that to help you understand how to generate more revenue from your customers.
22) Brand Now: How to Stand Out in a Crowded, Distracted World by Nick Westergaard
We’re living in a crowded world with too much competition. This generation is facing a lot of distraction.
“Brand Now” by Nick Westergaard will prepare you to stand out from the crowd. You’ll learn how to capture potential customer’s attention. Everyone will tell you the best way to build and promote your brand is through social media and you might think that things are going to be easy, but still, most businesses fail to build their brand on social media.
You spend a lot of time making a lot of posts but you still fail to capture their attention. Most ads are not effective and you might face the challenge of connecting with the audience.
The first step towards building your business is to start with building your brand. Brand Now by Nick Westergaard was written to train entrepreneurs on how to build their brand from scratch. Nick Westergaard is an expert when it comes digital marketing and he has a lot of success on all the major social media platforms, and in this book, he is sharing his ideas that helped him build his brand.
Brand Now teaches you how to build a brand that resonates with your potential audience. You’ll learn how to build a unique brand with a purpose so that you can benefit in a long term. By the help of this book, you’ll be able to create a unique story that will help your brand stand out & you’ll understand how to share your brand using engaging content that will appeal your followers.
As an entrepreneur, you probably know that the world is becoming louder and it’s getting tougher to promote brand awareness both online and offline, but Brand Now comes with a unique approach that will help you build a successful brand easily.
The book focuses on the fundamentals of establishing your brand, whether you’re promoting a big enterprise or you’re just starting out as a small business owner or a freelancer. With the help of this book, you’ll successfully create your own brand without sweating for it.
Nick Westergaard shows his readers how to take action. He explains how to break your big idea into simple ideas so that you’re able to plan and promote your brand effectively, and the author has provided a lot of illustrations to make things easier for you to understand.
The book is divided into two parts, Brand-Now Dynamics and Brand-Now Toolkit.
The Dynamics section is like your meat and potatoes; in this section, Nick Westergaard explains the building blocks of building a brand such as structure, content, community, story, experience, and clarity.
While the second part focuses on explaining helpful resources that need to be applied in B2B branding.
You’ll learn a lot about building brands in this book. If you haven’t read it, go ahead and buy a copy!
23) The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
The Snowball is a book that reveals the complete biography of one of the famous investors we have in this generation. This legendary investor is no one other than Warren Buffett. Everyone knows the skills of Buffett when it comes making profitable investments that yield long-term profits.
The Snowball written by Alice Schroeder will walk you through the biography of Warren Buffett and how he builds a fortune of wealth throughout his lifetime.
Buffett himself has never written a book about his biography but he has allowed Alice Schroeder to share his story with the rest of the world. Buffett allowed Alice to explore his life struggles, opinions, wisdom, follies, and triumphs. She worked closely with Buffett to ensure that she got all the information needed for this book.
Inside this amazing book, she shares strategies that will help any entrepreneur that’s looking for investment strategies that yield long-term profits.
The media have interviewed Buffett a lot but he has never shared his complete story. For a long time, he kept that information private from the world until he allowed this book to be written.
You’ll learn how to build strong relationships with your business partners. Buffett mentions that his investors are his partners and there is the need to treat them well.
Warren Buffett is known worldwide for his motivational speeches, as a Board member, and CEO. Buffett was once the worlds richest man. By hearing this you know that there is a lot you can learn from this man as an entrepreneur.
Alice Schroeder is a gifted writer, well known for business acumen. Buffett loved her writings on finance. When she showed the interest of writing Buffett biography, he decided to corporate with her since he knew he might never write it himself.
For this book, he spent countless hours answering Alice Schroeder questions about his life philosophy. He directed Alice to his wife, friends, children, and close business associates. He even allowed her to open his files to take any information she wants.
When you’ll read this book you’ll understand that Buffett’s legacy doesn’t come from the accumulation of wealth, it comes from his philosophies and how his ideas helped and made an impact to the world.
Most successful entrepreneurs believe that Buffett is by far the most fascinating American success story for this generation.
This is a must-read book for entrepreneurs that want to learn about investing and also learn about the journey of Warren Buffett.
24) Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton
Are you one of those entrepreneurs that want to launch their business from scratch without the need of a silver spoon? If yes, then this is a must-read book for you.
Whether you’re a beginner in the world of business or you want to scale your business to a higher level you shouldn’t skip reading this great book called “Sam Walton: Made In America”.
The book was written by Sam Walton himself and if you can do a little research about the man you’ll know that he started from scratch and made his way to the top. In the book, he explains all his life experiences along with his entrepreneurship journey.
Sam Walton was an expert in the world of retailing. This is something he was passionate about and that’s what made him great and successful. Sam Walton is the icon behind the creation of Walmart.
In this book, he shares how he built Walmart. He has said that if it was for the love of money he would have left Walmart at the time he made his first few Billions.
During his last days when he was struggling with cancer, his family invited a local Walmart manager to talk with Walton regarding his store’s sales figures. Walton was successful because his ears were always open, he listened to his employees. He even visited a lot of stores of his competitors to learn more about retailing. He spent time in these stores and asked a lot of questions. Because of that, he came up with creative ways to build Walmart.
At the time of his death, Walmart was the leading retailer in the world and became the second largest corporation worldwide. They are the largest employer in the United States and Mexico.
The author explains that working around your weaknesses is a must if you want to succeed at anything in life. Sam Walton himself isn’t a strong man. From an academic point of view he wasn’t a gifted student, but with consistent hard work, he earned himself good grades.
In this book, Sam mentions that the only way you can learn is by doing. The only way to learn business is to experience it.
Sam worked hard to learn about sales. In fact, he started selling magazine subscriptions at the age of seven or eight. Right from college he hired a lot of people that helped him make serious money. He did what has to be done in order to meet his ends since he solely relied on himself to do that.
Don’t neglect this book as an entrepreneur because it will help you a lot when it comes to retailing.
25) I Love Capitalism: An American Story by Ken Langone
If you’re an entrepreneur you definitely love the idea of capitalism and in this book called “I Love Capitalism“, you’ll learn a lot on how to build a sustainable business right from the beginning.
The author tells the story of a poor boy that went from nothing to being of the most successful entrepreneurs in America.
Ken Langone has built massive wealth that he never imagined he could get even in his wildest dreams. He is one of the most important icons behind corporate America for many decades.
He is among the co-founders of Home Depot. Was once a director of New York Stock Exchange, and is known for his philanthropic deeds throughout the United States, he donated $200 Million to NYU Langone Health.
In this book, he tells the story of his successful journey and how he achieved it. He explains that any hungry kid can make it in life. It doesn’t matter what you have in your pocket right now, he believed every kid has the potential to rise to a higher level.
In this book “I Love Capitalism“, Langone narrated a series of stories on how he struggled with life. He shares his educational stories, and how he entered Wall Street. He elaborates on how to understand the net worth of any business and how he applies his street smarts from eight to nine-figure deals. He also shares his legal and PR battle with one of the former NY governor, Eliot Spitzer.
This book is ideal for those that love capitalism and it will show them how it works and how they can expand their business to make more profit. Everyone has the right to dream big and everyone should do so. Capitalism helps individuals, that are born without a silver spoon in their mouth, to achieve great success. And that’s exactly what Langone went through, he has repeatedly said: “I am the American dream”.
Successful entrepreneurs recommend this book. It will help you a lot. “I Love Capitalism” is a joyful book to read, it’s entertaining and authentic. One thing that will fascinate you is the great American story that he shares. This book is insightful and inspirational for anyone that wants to succeed.
26) Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch, John A. Byrne
Straight from the Gut is a book written by Jack Welch and in this book Jack shares his biography.
He narrates the story of his life right from childhood to adulthood. He explains his childhood and the relationship between his parents. He then moves on to explore his study of life and his joining of GE. He fully describes his GE journey right from the beginning. He kept on getting promotions until he finally reached the position of CEO.
Most of the book focuses on his life as CEO, and for most readers, this is what they’re the most interested in learning about. They want to know how he became a successful entrepreneur/manager so that they could follow his path.
You’ll learn all the policies that helped him manage his company really good. He talks about the companies he bought and some of the programs he ran.
One of the important aspects you’ll learn about this book is Jack’s management style. This book shows entrepreneurs how to focus on finding good people and then educating them. You have to search the right managers that will run your business.
Straight from the Gut shows you how to manage your business effectively. It’s an interesting book that you don’t want to miss. When you’ll finish reading the book you’ll understand that you can achieve greatness no matter what. Jack shows that you need work really hard and with some luck you can definitely make it in business.
If you’re the type that values his career and you believe that you can learn from someone who has been on the same road you want to travel then this book is the right option for you.
If you really want to succeed in business, not only you need a fancy website, you also have to possess the guts.
The book “Straight from the Gut” has earned a lot of positive reviews from Amazon and other kindle stores. Don’t hesitate on reading it because it will help a lot when it comes to business management.
27) Wild Ride: Inside Uber’s Quest for World Domination by Adam Lashinsky
The next book on the list is the Wild Ride which is written by Adam Lashinsky.
This book shows entrepreneurs how to explore themselves into the world of opportunities. It’s the first book that goes in-depth into the Uber’s global empire.
Adam Lashinsky is known as the bestselling author of Inside Apple. In this book, he went ahead to trace the origins of Kalanick’s ambitions and he tries to explore more on Uber’s murky start-ups. He explains how they grow so rapidly and how they expand their business in different industries.
Adam Lashinsky has done great work by putting this book together. He wrote the book based on some of the interviews with Kalanick and a lot of other powerful sources that shared their own details regarding Uber’s power struggles, both internal and external.
Adam himself was once an Uber driver and he knows what it feels like to be an Uber driver, that’s why he teamed up with a lot of powerful people to reveal the secrets behind Uber business.
Wild ride is the first of its kind to explain how Uber became a giant today and how they’re going to conquer for many years to come. As an entrepreneur, even if you don’t want to involve yourself in Uber business, there are a lot of lessons you can learn in this book.
You’ll learn how to start a new business venture and take it to the next level. Uber has now built-up over two million drivers on their platform, they operate in over 700 cities and their revenue is growing rapidly and all this happened within 7 years.
Most entrepreneurs don’t give the book much attention but it deserves more than that. It’s very informational and a well timed and related book for entrepreneurs of this generation. Uber’s story is a different story, but Lashinsky has gone in-depth into the real story to reveal how Kalanick build Uber right from the beginning.
28) Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job by Sean Wise, Brad Feld
If you’re a new entrepreneur you’re aware of how a lot of businesses fail every year. It’s been estimated that over five million businesses are launched every year but a large percentage don’t survive for the first five years while the remaining hardly live to 10 years and only some ventures reach global success.
If you want to launch your business and you don’t want to join the massive failure rate then this book is a must read for you. Sean Wise and other co-writers have written this book to help new start ups to evaluate their business idea and to help their business survive in this competitive world. You should definitely consider reading this book if you want to launch a new business venture.
Inside the book, the author emphasizes the importance of the 10x rule. You’re bound to fail if your business doesn’t follow the 10x rule system. It’s better to keep up with your 9-5 job because you’ll hardly succeed.
You’ll learn how customer development is an important aspect of building your business. This will help you as an entrepreneur to explore more opportunities. You’ll understand the opportunities that are worth your time and investments. You can’t just go and invest in every idea you might have, you have to take a series of steps to determine whether it’s worth your investment or not.
You’ll learn a lot from the book because Sean and Brad have a lot of experience when it comes to launching startups. Together they’ve launched over 500 start ups in their career and have gone through over 30,000 pitches. They’re one of the leading minds in North America when it comes to capital ventures, and in this book they share a lot of information that will help you as an entrepreneur.
Startup Opportunities is ideal for individuals that want to start their own business. Beginners without any business experience are struggling with maintaining their business and in this book everything is simplified. You’ll learn how to step onto your failures and take your business to the next level.
There is surely much that can be learned from Sean. He is among the bestselling authors worldwide and is well known as an international speaker. He has published 5 books that are well known worldwide, and this book Startup Opportunities is one of his best publications, so my take is you should go ahead and read this awesome book.
29) What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World by Tina Seelig
We all make a lot of mistakes in our teenage years and most people regret what they did during these days. People experience a lot of life changes when they’re teens. Some would like to start their career early while some would like to stick to college first.
Teenage years is a scary time for most people because at that age you got a lot of choices to make that will make a great impact on your life in the feature. A lot of people believe they can live anyhow because they have a lot of time in the future that’s waiting for them, yet they don’t understand there is no guarantee for that, death can come at any moment. You’ll reach a time when you’ll realize you should have understood certain things right from the beginning, but it turns out to be too late. So as a teenager why don’t you learn from those who have experienced these problems?
Inside this book called “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20” you’ll learn how to make major decisions in your teenage years that will help you develop and grow yourself so that you can succeed in any career, you want to pursue. Whether it’s a business or a job you’ll learn how to have a good start in life.
There is no path or exact map to success because it varies based on individual’s capabilities and surrounding, but even starting out can be a huge challenge for most and that’s exactly what “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20” is going to show you.
Tina Seelig put all her effort in this book to guide her students who find it difficult to make a transition from their academic environment to the professional world. Inside this book she gives her students tangible skills and insights that will help them throughout their life. She shares a lot of inspiring advice and provocative stories that will help any teenager to go out there and conquer their dreams. Tina Seelig has a lot of experience in life because she is an entrepreneur, a teacher and a neuroscientist.
The book is filled with good examples on how to achieve amazing success. The author does not follow the old rules, she provides new set of models that will help anyone reach their highest potential. You’ll learn how to overcome your failures and the book explains how your problems can be used as opportunities.
If you’re a teenager or a young adult who wishes to succeed in life, then grab this book as fast as you can. The faster you’ll learn answers to these questions, the faster you’ll succeed, without failing as much.
30) The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone
This is a really powerful book that should be included in your top 10 business books because it’s a very powerful book from an influential entrepreneur.
The 10X Rule is an amazing book that will spark you on how to take massive action and achieve success in your entrepreneurship journey. Cardone have helped thousands of people reach their potential. One of his students went viral by showcasing his new Ferrari on Grant Cardone’s website and the 10X rule logo on this brand new car.
No bragging here, if you really want to make serious money in your life, you should buy all Grant Cardone books, not only the “The 10X Rule”. Grant Cardone is very popular in all the major social media platforms, especially YouTube where he shares the stories of his successful journey, he shares how he started from nothing and still achieved success.
By the age of 25, Cardone didn’t have a penny and his life was filled with frustrations and downfalls, but after that he decided that it’s time to take action. The man worked really hard and he has experienced a lot of ups and downs, but now the results can be seen. Cardone is involved in a lot of seminars including his own.
The core principle of The 10X Rule is about taking “massive action” if you really want to succeed in business. Yes, sometimes you have to be a workaholic to achieve your dreams. You have to work so hard that you forget it’s time for launch or breakfast; you can’t achieve great success without a consistent work ethic.
The 10X Rule tells you how to get started, what you need to do, and how to execute each idea you have in order to achieve the best result.
In this book you’ll learn how to estimate the effort needed to achieve the results you want and then exceed that by doing better.
You’ll learn how to break off the chains of a mediocre life. You’ll understand the reasons why most people fail and then give up on the dream-life before even putting any effort while others succeed at a very high level.
The 10X Rule will show you the exact formula you need to follow in order to solve your life’s problems. Instead of settling for the average life like most other books will show you, this book goes beyond that to tell you how to achieve massive success. Read this book and you won’t regret it!
31) Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
The name of the book itself tells you what this book is about. It’s the complete biography of the most famous innovator the world has ever seen. When you heard the name Steve Jobs the first thing that comes to mind is “iPhone” or apple products in general.
Walter Isaacson did a great work by putting together the biography of Steve Jobs in one place. Walter Isaacson is good at writing biographies. He wrote the biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. These powerful men changed our world, they changed history. Steve Jobs also is a part of history and that’s why Walter decided to write his biography.
Steve Jobs didn’t have any objections when Walter proposed to write a book about him. Some sources have said that Steve Jobs handpicked Walter to write his book and Jobs insisted that he won’t interfere with Walton’s work.
The book somehow contains a lot of pages. This is important because Steve Jobs is one of the most important creative people of this century and has gone through a lot in his life. There is the need to provide full details of this man’s journey and how he changed the world.
Steve Jobs has cooperated with Walter in every possible way but he said he has no control over what’s written in the book.
The book covers Steve Jobs personal and professional life. A lot of research was made before putting this book together. It took almost 2 years to finish researching for this book and a lot of interviews were made with Steve Jobs and other people associated with him like his associates, family, rivals, friends, enemies, and ex-girlfriends.
In this book, no stone is left unturned in order to reveal the real story of Steve Jobs. As an entrepreneur, especially, if you’re the type that wants to step a foot into the tech industry, you need to learn from none other than Mr. Jobs.
32) Small Business, Big Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right by Matthew Toren
“Small Business, Big Vision” is the next book in this collection of books for entrepreneurs.
Majority of the greatest entrepreneurs started out with nothing and then went ahead to build a small business, and from there they took their business to the next level by working hard every single day.
It doesn’t matter how small you start, all that matters is your vision, and if you have a great vision you can reach any level of success that you want. Your vision will keep you right on track even if things don’t work out from the beginning. Your vision will keep you moving even in the toughest times.
In this book called “Small Business, Big Vision” by Matthew Toren you’ll discover how to set big goals and vision for your business so that one day your business is among the greatest businesses that exist.
This book is full of valuable information for entrepreneurs who’re starting their own business. It was written based on thoughts and experiences from the worlds most successful entrepreneurs.
Whether you’re a new or an established entrepreneur you’ll benefit a lot from reading this book. It teaches you as an entrepreneur how to apply what you’ve learned. Everything you’ll learn in this book is cited with an example that shows you how to implement the strategies mentioned.
Whatever you’re launching it all begins with a plan, and “Small Business, Big Vision” will show you how to set up an effective plan, right from creating a simple 1-page plan to building up an advisory board that will help you get better results in your business.
Some of the things covered include:
- How to figure out whether you need investors or not. You’ll learn how to find these investors that will invest in your idea. Sometimes you just can’t start alone, you might need the help of investors in order to build up your business.
- You’ll learn the benefits and downsides of having employees. The author explains the best way to outsource your work and much more.
- How to come up with an effective social media marketing plan that will help you market your product and services.
- Matthew Toren explains how to build a profitable information empire and how to become an expert in your industry.
- You will learn how to build the right mindset; acquire the proper skills that are needed to build your business.
- The world of entrepreneurship is changing very fast. This book will teach how to survive the competition and achieve whatever you want.
33) Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
This is another great book from one of the most successful entrepreneurs on this planet, Phil Knight. Shoe Dog is a New York Times bestseller.
If you don’t know him he was the founder one of the most noticeable brands in the world – Nike.
In this book, you’ll learn about the early days of his company and how things went down for him before the world knew Nike as a brand. Nike is among the worlds most recognizable and profitable brands.
One of the most successful entrepreneurs that recommend this book is Bill Gates. He said the Shoe Dog was among his favorite books that he read in 2016. He called the book “an amazing tale”.
The book is an honest reminder of what it takes to launch a successful business. It’s a chaotic journey in which you’ll make a lot of mistakes and a lot of sacrifices.
Phil Knight shares ideas and strategies that most CEOs aren’t willing to try. You’ll learn a lot about Phil Knight and how he started his business.
He shows exactly what it takes to start a business from scratch. Things are never good at the beginning, and throughout the process, there is always a challenge, but in that process, you become a better and more productive person.
Phil Knights journey began by borrowing $50 from his father with the aim of importing low-cost but high-quality running shoes from Japan. That was in 1963 when he was selling the shoes from the trunk of his car. In the very first year, he made a gross of $8000; currently, Nike has annual sales of $30 billion.
As an entrepreneur isn’t this the type of man you want to learn from?
It doesn’t matter whether you want to run a shoe business or not, you’ll learn a lot from the journey of Phil Knight on how he builds Nike. He started with only $50 in 1963 and now he’s making billions of dollars every single year.
Shoe Dog is a must-read book for entrepreneurs. You’ll be motivated to get started even if you have only a few pennies in your pocket.
Just go and read this book and see what it has to offer you!
34) Rich20Something: Ditch Your Average Job, Start an Epic Business, and Score the Life You Want by Daniel DiPiazza
Every entrepreneur that decides to pursue the journey of entrepreneurship believes that he has some potential in him. He doesn’t want to waste his life being a slave to the system, he wants to give something unique to the world.
In the book “Rich20Something” you’ll learn how to bring out the potential in you and achieve the dreams you want in your life. The book will teach you how to start your own business and then take it to any level you want.
Daniel DiPiazza shares his life experiences in this book. He reveals how he was working at a low paying job in hopes that he’ll reach the top. He realized that he doesn’t want to waste his life like this, he is meant for something much bigger in life.
By the time he was 28, he launched multiple businesses with zero startup capital and they all turned out to be very profitable. He did this by identifying what he loves, started taking action and the results came quicker than he ever imagined.
As a young entrepreneur, you should definitely read the book. If you’re stuck in between jobs that hardly pay off the bills this is the first book you want to pick up if you want to get out of your situation.
The author shows you how to use the set of skills you have and then turn them into a profitable business venture. This book will show you how to hustle and build up your own empire instead of wasting your life on traditional jobs.
The author provides step-by-step techniques that will help the reader to use the set of skills they’ve got and turn them into a business they’re most passionate about.
If you’re the type that wants to build an epic career then this is one of the books you should read. You’ll learn how to make the most from your life right away.
It’s time to say goodbye to low paying jobs and kick-start your own journey.
35) Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
Titan is another interesting book to read as an entrepreneur. The book comes from the award-winning author who has written Alexander Hamilton. If you’ve read the book you know it’s an interesting one.
Here he is again presenting the biography of one of the famous entrepreneurs that made a lot of fortune from the oil industry. The Titan focuses on the biography of John D. Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefeller was a philanthropist who helped a lot of universities and institutions. This man was considered a terror to his competition. No words can fully describe this man because of his accomplishments in business.
He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history.
Titan is a good book and a magnificent biography; it’s well balanced and elegantly written. This is so far the best book on the biography of Rockefeller. It’s among the best American biographies we have with a brilliant riveting.
There are a lot of bad writings about this man, but exploring this book will allow anyone to truly understand the man. Many people thought that Rockefeller was a greedy man, but you can only judge the man after hearing his story. This is a balanced and honest story about Rockefeller. No one is saying the man didn’t have a dark side, but by understanding his principles and ideologies you’ll realize that a lot of things said about the man aren’t true.
As an entrepreneur, you should learn about his business practices and how they can help you improve your own business. You’ll learn a lot about the Standard Oil Company which has a negative reputation.
Titan is a good book about business that should be read by every entrepreneur. Despite the negative image Rockefeller has you should still consider reading this book because there are some valuable information that needs to be learned.
It only costs a few bucks out of your pocket to buy this book. Why don’t you give it a try and see how it can help you?
As an entrepreneur, you have to read as much as you can so that you’re well versed into the world of knowledge. I found this book awesome and that’s why I added it into the reading list.
36) Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
You don’t want to miss this book as an entrepreneur!
Elon Musk is one of the most successful entrepreneurs that currently exist on this planet, and Elon is a man with the vision. He revolutionized the way we do things.
The book “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” is a great book because it’s a New York Times bestseller.
Amazon, Audible, NPR and Wall Street Journal called the book as one of the best books of the year. The book sold over 1.5 million copies within a very short period of time.
Elon Musk has struggled a lot by trying to build up two powerful companies, SpaceX and Tesla. These companies are always trembling but with the great vision and experience of Elon Musk, he always takes them to the next level.
Musk is an ambitious entrepreneur who believes that everyone can achieve their dreams, but only if you work really hard for it.
The book explores the life of Elon Musk and how he builds up his two most important companies, SpaceX and Tesla. The man is a workaholic who works even during weekends to take care of his business.
Musk is behind the creation of one of the most popular payment gateways “PayPal”. Building PayPal (X.com before selling it) alone is an achievement to Elon Musk, but he decided to go ahead and build larger businesses.
Ashlee Vance tells the complete biography of Elon Musk right from childhood. She walks you through his first innovations – Zip2 and PayPal. Musk was raised in South Africa but made his way to the United States in order to build up the vision he had.
Ashlee did a lot of research and has interviewed Musk on a regular basis to gather all the information she needed, she also consulted most of his close associates during his career. Musk didn’t interfere on writing the content of this book, he left Ashlee to add all that she wanted and the book turned out to be a great book, especially for entrepreneurs.
In the book, you’ll learn how Elon Musk revolutionizes the solar energy industry, transportation industries, and the space flight. Because of his great achievements, some people try to compare Elon Must with the popular superhero in the Iron Man movie “Tony Stark”, others compare him to Steve Jobs. He even got featured in a small cameo role in Iron Man 2.
He has faced a lot of challenges right from his upbringing. He had an abusive father and faced a lot of bullying, but still, he managed to strive. One thing is certain about Elon Musk, he has always been very creative. He sold his 1st video game when he was at the age of twelve.
If you want to see how the great icon was born, raised and how he changed the world, then this is a must-read book for you as an entrepreneur.
If you’re going to make a list of top ten entrepreneurs of this generation, surely Elon Musk will make it into the list.
37) The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone
Who doesn’t know Amazon.com? Unless you’ve been living under the rock you probably have heard about it.
Jeff Bezos might not be as popular as his online store, but in this book, you’ll learn how this man set up a small website with the purpose of selling books through the mail and then went to become the world-leading retail store.
The great mind behind this business was none other than Jeff Bezos.
“The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” will walk you through the life of this visionary entrepreneur. Amazon started with selling books but Jeff Bezos knew in heart that he wants Amazon.com to be a universal store where you can find everything.
Bezos continued to work on his ambitions really hard and took Amazon to where it is today. Jeff Bezos is currently the richest man in the world. Every entrepreneur should definitely read this book because it has much to offer.
Jeff Bezos really stand out from the rest of the world; he is a man that’s always searching for new markets and opportunities that will make life easier. Jeff Bezos is a private person when compared to other successful entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. He is a simple man with a simple life but he has a great vision. He isn’t the type that boasts about having wealth.
“The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” tells the story of the man and the company that revolutionized the way we do shopping. Amazon is a true life changer in the internet world.
The book was endorsed as the best book of the year by a lot of credible sources which include: Forbes, Washington Post, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, The Economist, and The New Republic.
The book doesn’t only tell the history of Jeff Bezos and Amazon, it goes beyond that to tell you the future vision of this great venture.
Bezos has already set a project that will take Amazon to the next level – it is a space exploration project called Blue Origin. Billions of dollars have been invested in this project and it’s going to change the space industry.
If you’re in the business of selling or you’re just getting started as an entrepreneur with a new idea, you have to read this book!
It all starts with a vision not tons of money. Once you understand this you can achieve a lot in your lifetime. Whether you buy or sell, this book will change your life for good.
38) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
The next book I’m adding to the list is called the “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”. When you look at the book title itself you know that it will teach you on how to live life on your terms.
This book will help you find out exactly what you want in your life and how to achieve it. The author Mark Manson will guide you on how to work for your goals and achieve more without taking too much time. Manson believes in the idea that you can achieve what you want by not concerning or caring too much about anything.
Once you clear up your mind from trying to feel positive or exceptional and wanting to be happy all the time as well as eliminating the fear of failure, you’ll feel better that way. In short, you’ll learn how to control your emotions, in other words, you shouldn’t be attached to the results.
In a traditional world, you’re told that in order to live a better life you need to get more of everything, that’s is to make more, own more and buy more, but Mark Manson says to hell with that.
The author isn’t encouraging living the easy or comfortable life. Instead, he’s telling individuals that want to build a good career to embrace working hard as if though it’s a simple work. If you can’t put in the hours to work for a sixty-hour work week, do lots of paperwork and long commutes, then you should forget about becoming a CEO.
If you cannot embrace failure to start over again, you cannot take risks, and cannot put insane hours working for your dream then forget about being an entrepreneur.
This journey isn’t for the mediocre minds. Your success doesn’t depend on what you enjoy doing, but on how you can tolerate suffering and keep moving on.
Manson showcases his life as an example in this book. He has struggled a lot in his life when he tried to be exceptional, he ended up being a drug addict. He realized that his problems aren’t different from others. In a short time he did a come back to his life and began his journey as an entrepreneur and he achieved a lot in his journey.
He lives by the principle that improvement comes from thousands of tiny failures you’ll face in your life and your magnitude of success will be proportional to the number of times you have failed at something.
You should really read this book if you want to have a strong work ethic and develop a good discipline that will help you achieve whatever you want in your life.
The book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” is truly a life changer. It will help you to develop the right mindset that’s needed to conquer your dreams.
39) The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
One of the setbacks people experience in doing things is they say “it’s hard”. What if you can understand the hard thing about things, wouldn’t your life become easier?
Ben Horowitz put together this book called “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” to help you build a mindset that doesn’t believe in the “it’s hard mentality”. If you can see simplicity in everything, you’ll definitely achieve great things that will certainly change the world.
Ben offers his readers valuable information that will help them build and run a startup effectively. You’ll learn how to manage the toughest problems that might arise in your business.
Most people believe that starting a business is a great way to start building their own career. They have the mentality that it’s really easy, but when they step into the world of business they realize that things aren’t easy.
If it would be that easy then why is it that more than 80% of businesses fail within the very first 3 years? No matter how your business ideas seem to be easy to execute, it’s not going to feel that way once you start experiencing the challenges that are involved.
In this book, Ben removes all that blocks and he teaches how to keep moving even in tough times. He shares the lessons he learned from running his own business, right from eliminating negative friends to poaching competitors. He shows you how to build and maintain the CEO mentality and when to cash in.
If your business is about to fall and all your investors are running away, you should consider reading “The Hard Thing About Hard Things”. This is the best time when you need an advice from successful people that will make you stronger. During tough times most of your friends and trusted advisers will tell you to give up. Whatever it is that you started “you should never quit” and “you should never listen to a quitter”. Before quitting at anything you should remember the reason why you started in the first place, remember your family and how it’s going to impact them. You should get all the necessary tools and resources needed in order to rise up your business once again.
As an entrepreneur who is facing bad days it’s not easy to keep up despite all the challenges you’re facing, but by reading this book you’ll understand that the difficulties you’re facing are normal.
Grab yourself a copy of “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” and you’ll learn a lot about facing your challenges.
40) Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz
If you’re an entrepreneur you’ll be involved in a lot of buying and selling in your career and this book is the option for you to learn the art of negotiating.
The author of this book is a former FBI negotiator for international hostages. Imagine someone who can negotiate with the bad guys, what then can he do when it comes to business?
“Never Split the Difference” is a book you don’t want to miss. Chris Voss will teach you how to negotiate whether at home or in the boardroom.
After spending some time in his policing career Chris decided to join the FBI to become an international negotiator. Throughout this journey, he has dealt with a lot of tough criminals and has achieved a lot. These criminals include terrorists and bank robbers. He didn’t just become a normal hostage negotiator, he is the best at what he does.
“Never Split the Difference” shows you how to master high stake negotiations. You’ll learn all the skills you need to persuade your business partners to give you or take whatever you want from them.
The author shares 9 principles that are proven to work in any business negotiations. You can use these strategies and counterintuitive tactics to become a professional when it comes to negotiations in either personal life or business.
Whatever you’re into you have to be ready to make negotiations with people, this could be negotiating a salary or pay raise, buying a car, buying a home, renting and many more uncountable situations which you’re going to face in your life.
Chris explains that kidnappers too are businessmen who’re trying to get the best deal. He has a lot of experience in this field because he spent over two decades in the FBI mastering this art and he took executive negotiation course at Harvard in order to sharpen his skills.
He shares a lot of stories and examples in his FBI career that will help you understand his principles and strategies with ease. He shows you how to understand your opponent’s emotions without being rude to the other parties that are involved.
You shouldn’t miss this book because it has priceless information and it will make a huge difference in your entrepreneurship journey.
41) Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
Do you want to learn how companies create great products that people can’t put down? Or why some products capture more attention than others?
Every entrepreneur wants to learn about these skills because entrepreneurship is all about innovations and building exceptional products and services to customers.
The book “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” by Nir Eyal will show you how to create engaging products for your customers and learn the underlying technologies that hook people to a particular product.
Nir shares a lot of knowledge regarding the hook model. He explains a 4 step process that should be embedded in any product you want to create.
This is a process that’s used by all the successful companies out there. These companies use the “hook cycles” to make sure that customers always come back for their product and services again and again. You can achieve this without spending a lot of money on aggressive messaging or advertising.
It took years of research to put together this book. You’ll learn from experience gained by successful product launchers.
“Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” shows entrepreneurs how to build better products that stand out, even with massive competition you can create products that people are rushing to buy.
In this book you’ll discover practical insights on how to create habits that will stick for long, the author outlines the various steps and processes you need in order to build products that people love. He shares examples from world famous brands like Apple.
He walks you through how these powerful companies build products that everyone love to have. This isn’t just a book, it’s a how-to guide for building exceptional and high-quality products that everyone love.
The book is ideal for marketers, managers, designers, new startup founders or just anybody that wants to understand the behavior and physiology of customers. You’ll learn how to deal with conscious thoughts of customers, and you’ll learn the daily actions that control human actions.
Nir tells his readers how to extend the lifetime value of their customers. This means you’ll learn how to make more money from your customers before they switch to your competitor or stop using your products and services.
You’ll learn how to make flexible pricing that’s convenient for your customers and at the same time which will make maximum profit.
Nir tells you how to influence your customers to promote your products and services to their friends and family for free.
These are opportunities you don’t want to miss as an entrepreneur, so grab this book and see what it has to offer to you.
42) Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg, Justin Mares
Another great book that needs to be added to the reading collection.
The biggest challenge startups face isn’t lack of good product but rather lack of customer growth. Most startups and business fail because of traction.
Inside this book, you’ll discover how to pass through this challenge successfully.
“Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth” by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares talks about how to build a successful startup that can give you long-term profits. You might have read a lot of books regarding building a successful startup but you’ll hardly find one that talks about traction.
Any successful entrepreneur knows that the success of any product doesn’t entirely depend on the originality of the product, how good your team is or the money you raise to start the business. It greatly depends on how you can acquire and grow more customers consistently. This is what’s known as traction and once you understand how this works you can succeed at almost any business.
This book will take you through 19 channels on building an effective customer base and how you can pick the right customers for your business that will give you the money you want.
A lot of examples are given in this book from interviews with successful founders that are well known such as Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, Dharmesh Shah, the founder of Hubspot, and Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Reddit.
You’ll learn how to promote your business or services with offline ads and other powerful marketing channels that aren’t used by competitors, this makes a lot easier to acquire more customers.
You’ll learn how to use targeted media coverage in order to generate new customers. How to use the power of email marketing to grow your business with automation. You’ll learn how to keep in touch with your email subscribers and how they’ll respect you because you’ll be offering a lot of valuable information for free that will help them solve various problems in their life and it’s not going to cost you much to do that.
You’ll learn how to utilize the search engines to get more traffic for your business. The book teaches you how to improve your search engine rankings in the popular search engines like Google and Bing.
These are just a few of the things that you’ll learn in this book.
43) Choose Yourself by James Altucher
The world is changing at a rapid rate. Many jobs are disappearing and everyday markets are crashing. Many industries are disrupted before our own eyes. Everything that you believed is safe is no longer safe, whether it’s security, employment, college, government, or retirement. Many things have just changed and you know that almost everything is crumbling down one way or the other.
The common man is always neglected. Most people won’t hire you or give you an opportunity. Since this is how things have turned into it’s time to take the important step of your life and that’s to choose yourself first.
In this book “Choose Yourself” by James Altucher you’ll understand how to build up your own career by yourself and succeed without the need of relying on someone to offer you a job or give capital startup.
You’ll find a lot of powerful tools that will help you as an individual to make millions of dollars. You alone with the right tools can change the world.
Many opportunities are born every day and everyone can tap into them and make a massive profit. Even though we’re living in a broken system you can still achieve a great success in your life, both health and wealth.
This book is designed to walk you through how to achieve that. There are dozens of case studies and interviews that have been cited in this book.
The author James Altucher is a very successful entrepreneur who understands what it takes to lead a successful business. He shares a lot on how to independently set up your own business without sponsorship from someone.
You’ll learn the various practices you need to do every single day in order to achieve greatness in your life.
The book has been appreciated by many people and has earned positive reviews because of the great content that’s inside. It’s well written with actionable steps that guide anyone who wants to build a fortune in his life.
It doesn’t claim to change your life overnight as most gurus do. It will, however, reveal how you can execute your ideas. If you actually implement what the author talks about in the book it will definitely change your life.
44) Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
Seth Godin’s work has reached millions of people worldwide and has changed a lot of lives with his business ideologies.
The book “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable” was first published in 2003 and later expanded in 2009.
Godin believes in the idea to create remarkable products before pushing them into the market. He uses a lot of companies as an example to back up his strategies. He cites great companies like Apple, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, and JetBlue.
He tells his readers to reconsider what their marketing campaign is saying about their product and services. We’re living in a very competitive world; you have to come up with something unique that helps you stand out.
Godin is a true revolutionary when it comes to marketing. He believes the old traditional marketing channels such as TV commercials, and running ads on Wall Street Journal are dead. Such type of message or commercials are outdated and customers are no longer persuaded via these channels.
If you want to take your business to the next level you have to toss out most of the things you know about marketing and do something remarkable for your business.
Godin’s marketing is different, he uses sharp and short messages to grab the attention of potential customers. His message is clear: tell them the truth, be outrageous and test the limits.
If you really want to set yourself apart from the crowded competition you shouldn’t skip this book. Godin mentions in this book that you have to be remarkable in order to succeed in the current world we’re living in.
Godin mentions that the surest way to fail is to be boring. At the end of the book, he mentions some important points that will help you build a product that is different from your competitors.
I believe that with the given examples and case studies you will definitely understand this whole idea of being remarkable and creating remarkable products and services.
“Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable” is definitely worth reading because of the valuable lessons shared by Godin, so don’t wait anymore, go grab it!
45) All Marketers are Liars: The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All by Seth Godin
This is also another powerful marketing book from Seth Godin.
“All Marketers are Liars” is an indispensable marketing book from the bestselling author of the books “Tribes” and “Purple Cow“, and if you have read some of the books written by Seth Godin you know that the man is a legend.
Godin begins by asking marketers a few questions before they even consider start setting up any marketing campaign.
Every marketer should ask the following questions:
- What is your Story?
- Will your prospects believe your story?
- Are you telling the truth?
If you’ve studied marketing for a bit then you probably get the idea that the best way to persuade customers is by telling a relevant story. Successful marketers tell a story in their marketing campaigns and if you do it right you’re going to profit a lot.
When people believe your story, they will take any action you want them to.
Godin has trained thousands of successful marketers worldwide. When you’ll finish reading this book you’ll understand that marketing isn’t just about showcasing the features and benefits of a product, it’s about telling a story that will persuade, whether it’s factual or not.
We’re living in a world where customers are presented with unlimited choices of products and services. There is the need to stand out from the crowd by telling an excellent story that’s acceptable to your prospects. If you tell the right story most people will share the story with their friends or family.
But you have to be careful. You can’t just make up any story. Your story has to be authentic or you’ll be interpreted as a fraud marketer.
If you’re not utilizing stories in your marketing campaigns it’s time to embrace them because they’re a powerful tool that will take your business higher. Stories are one of the best ways to spread an idea. Storytelling wasn’t invented by marketers, but rather they perfected it.
The book will truly change the way you market your products and services and as an entrepreneur, it’s something you really want to master because the survival of your business will heavily depend on how you market it to the world.
46) Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not by Robert T. Kiyosaki
We’re about to reach the end of our list. No list would be complete without one of the best selling personal finance books of all time “Rich Dad Poor Dad”.
It has been written in dozens of languages all around the globe. This book will transform the way you view business in general. It teaches how to build a business without given excuses.
“Rich Dad Poor Dad” showcases the story of Robert who grew up with two dads. The first dad is his real father and the second dad is the father of his best friend who’s the rich dad.
Both of them taught him a lot of lessons about money and investing. Inside this amazing book, Kiyosaki tells the real difference between working for money and having money to work for you.
“Rich Dad Poor Dad” was published in 1997, but after 20 years Kiyosaki added an update to the book. If you want to learn more about investing, global economy and money, in general, this is a must-read book for you.
Inside this book, you’ll learn how both the rich and poor manage and spend their money. Kiyosaki explains the lessons he learned from the “Rich Dad” who was very successful. He differentiated the difference between working hard and working smart.
He also explains smart spending which is very important when it comes to maintaining wealth. You can be the hardest worker in the room but if you don’t manage your money wisely you’ll end up working for the rest of your life. And the poor dad is always reliant on other people when making monetary decisions, especially when it comes to tax issues.
Anyone that wants to learn how to make more money will benefit from Kiyosaki’s ideas because these ideas have proven the test of time.
If you’re not making any serious money you will realize that you have some of the qualities of the poor dad that are mentioned in this book.
As an entrepreneur, this book will definitely put you in the right direction when it comes to making money. You’ll learn how to make more money and how to invest it properly.
It’s a pretty good book that can help you to become financially independent and make intelligent future decisions. You’ll learn all the basic principles of making money.
Whether you’re launching a startup or you’re an existing business owner, this book will really help.
47) What If It Does Work Out? by Susie Moore
And last but not least on our list is “What If It Does Work Out?” by Susie Moore.
Fear of failure is one of the greatest setbacks people encounter when they’re trying to build their own business. They’re afraid that “things might not work out for them”. This makes them not to try out new things in their life. This book is designed to equip you with all the strength, courage and motivation you need to set up a successful business.
Instead of being afraid of things that might not work out, you should ask yourself “What If It Does Work Out?”.
Imagine how beautiful life could be when you succeed in whatever it is that you want to achieve. This will make it easier for you to make life decisions and will also help you pass through tough moments of your life with ease.
It’s a wonderful book that helps to inspire and uplift the heart. The book will make you realize that you have a potential in you. It will give you the courage to get up and start working on your dreams.
The book is a perfect option for those who want to build their business from home. Even those that have already launched their business can benefit a lot from the book. Susie shows you how you can use any talent you have and then turn it into a cash sucking machine.
If you have a job you hate and you’re scared of leaving it then this book is for you. You’ll realize that you have the reasons to leave and start working on your ideas.
You’ll learn how to turn your passion into cash and how to make an impact on this world. If you have a hobby and the desire to be successful you can live a fulfilled life.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have much experience, Susie will walk you through how you can use whatever it is that you know or you’re good at to make a good living and lead a happy life.
As an entrepreneur you shouldn’t ignore this book, you’ll learn how to discover more within yourself and use that as a fuel to live up to your expectations.
Just go and read this book and you’ll be impressed by the writing style and the lessons that are inside the book.
Conclusion
Learning is a continuous process that never ends. Almost any book you choose to read, even if you don’t like it, has something useful to be learned.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur you should never stop reading!
Entrepreneurship isn’t a destination, it is a journey that only ends the day you die. Whichever level you are as an entrepreneur, there are people who have something to teach you. Even the most successful and wealthiest entrepreneurs read on a consistent basis. They learn a lot from people who are less successful than them and they appreciate the lessons they’ve learned.
Knowledge and experience, without a doubt, will take you to higher levels in your entrepreneurship journey.
So my take is: read as many books as you can, if possible allocate a time daily, weekly or monthly for reading books. You should read at least one book every single month. The most successful entrepreneurs read at least one book every one or two weeks.
Don’t give up! You’re closer to achieving and living your dream life as long as you read and apply what you’ve learned.
I hope that I’ve helped you find at least one new book to read in 2019 with my extensive list.
Books with real-life success stories inspire me. If you’ve never read a book in your life, I strongly suggest you do that!
And now I’d like to hear from you:
Do you have any other great books to suggest that I haven’t included in this list?
Let me know by leaving a comment below right now!