11 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

Plan Your Journey

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”. Abraham Lincoln

The best way to be successful on your entrepreneurial journey is to consult books and mentors. Books and mentors will give your business the competitive edge simply because most people do very little planning. Books and mentors will also help you get to where you want to go quicker. Look at it this way, if you need to travel somewhere you hadn’t been before you would look at a map. You would also speak to people who have travelled to this unknown destination and you would ask them what to keep in mind, what the quickest route is and what to avoid.

11 Business Books That You Need In Your Library

The entrepreneurial journey is filled with highs and lows and for this reason we have a put together some books that will help you on the road ahead. Below are 11 books that we think will have a radical impact on your work and life.

Book #1

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber

When most people start their own business they think that they have to do everything themselves and they don’t build systems. The work they love turns into a monster they can’t control and 4 out of 5 of these small businesses never make it past the 5-year mark which is quite a depressing stat. Why is that? This book has the answers and it is an essential guide if you are looking to start a business or if you have started one. Essential reading.

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Some Of The Insights We Got From The Book

– Having great technical skills does not mean you know how to run a business.

– Imagine your business as a nationwide franchise from day one, then build the first store.

– The franchise approach makes sure you build a business based on systems, not people. This is not say people are not important the point the book is making is that if you business doesn’t have systems in place when people leave your business it won’t be able to operate.

Book #2

The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen

This books explains how successful companies that dominate their industries fail in the face of disruptive innovation. Some well known examples of disruptors are Uber, Netflix and Air BnB. This book was written in 1997 and shows great insight even in todays market. It is a message of caution for bigger companies and a message of encouragement for startups.

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Some Key Points We Got Out Of The Book

Most big companies use sustaining innovation to satisfies their customer’s current needs and disruptive technology evolves to meet customers future needs. These two types of innovation are at the heart of the innovator’s dilemma.

– Larger companies need to pay close attention to the movement of the market. They need to listen to their customers so that they can successfully innovate and embrace inside niche markets.

– Startups have huge opportunities if they improve performance of their products within a small niche market.

Book #3

Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker

This is a short but powerful book on self-awareness and management. Peter F. Drucker explains timeless concepts in this simple and thought-provoking book. This is really good book to add to your library!

“Successful careers are not planned, successful careers are developed by preparing for opportunities”.

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Some Key Points We Got Out Of The Book

– Place yourself where your strengths can produce results.

– Avoid intellectual arrogance and acquire the skills you need.

– Employ the best methods that work for you and your team.

– Successful careers develop when people are prepared for opportunities.

– Know your strengths, values and how you work.

Book #4

Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action by Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek presents the idea that great leaders inspire others by putting the Why (the purpose) before the How (the process), or the What (the product). Even if you are not a leader, this book is still a very good read as it will make you aware of what you responding to in advertising. I keep going back to this book as I often forget the fundamentals it teaches.

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Some Insights We Got From The Book

– If you want to inspire others, always communicate your “why” first.
– Excited employees are the best resource for any business.
– You don’t need sleazy sales tactics when you start with why.

This is definitely one for the library, very inspiring, practical and insightful.

Book #5

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk

This book will give you a whole new understanding of social media and a lot of the principles in this book are business principles that are easily forgotten. If you don’t run a business don’t turn off. If you learn this stuff you can offer your knowledge to businesses who may be trying to understand the current internet age.

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Some Insights We Got From The Book

– Social media requires that business leaders start thinking like small-town shop owners by caring about every customer.

– If you’ve already experimented with social media and it didn’t work, there are only two possible reasons: your product or service isn’t any good, or you’re doing it wrong.

– The risk that your business will die before its time grows bigger every day that you don’t use social media.

– If your view of social media is so tunnel-visioned that all you care about are the number of fans or retweets or views you have got, you’re missing the whole point.

– Marketing is harder than it used to be but the opportunities we now have to reach new audiences are huge.

Book #6

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk

Social media is a huge part of how we communicate and do business so whether we like it or not we have to get versed in this language. This is book on ‘how you do’ social media and it gives you the nuts and bolts on how to navigate different social media platforms.

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Some Social Media Fundamentals We Got From The Book

– What’s needed is less ‘right-hooking’ and more ‘jabbing’. This means you need to give more in your content and regularly. The right hook is where you are asking and you set this by giving value to your audience.

– Most brands still don’t understand social media, so most of their content sucks.

– Brands are fatally thinking of social media as a distribution channel rather than a storytelling channel.

We live in very exciting times. Yes we agree there is so much two take in…but “don’t wish it was easy…wish you were better”.

Book #7

Deep Work by Cal Newport

This is a great book which explores the idea of focussing on the work we do. Focus is a needed skill in the hectic 24-7 world we live in. Cal Newport suggests that we have lost our ability to focus deeply and immerse ourselves in a complex task. In this book you will learn some tools to help you focus on your work and become more productive.

This is a fascinating book that will help you work in a more focused and productive way.

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Some Things We Took Away From The Book

– There are four strategies for deep work, all of which require intention.
– Meditation can help you work deeper, even while you’re taking a break.
– Finish work at the same time each day and stick to it.

– Deep work will help you learn things at a faster pace.

Book #8

Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by A.G. Lafley

This is a quite a deep book but the concepts are really solid and will serve as a great reference book you can keep coming back to. Definitely worth adding to your library.

“Strategy is not complex. But it is hard. It’s hard because it forces people and organizations to make specific choices about their future—something that doesn’t happen in most companies. Two of today’s best-known business thinkers get to the heart of strategy—explaining what it’s for, how to think about it, why you need it, and how to get it done. And they use one of the most successful corporate turnarounds of the past century, which they achieved together, to prove their point”.

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Some Key Insights

– Strategy is about making specific choices to win in the marketplace.
– Winning should be at the heart of any strategy.
– There is no perfect strategy.

– Make the consumer the boss.

– Measure everything.

Book #9

The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick) by Seth Godin

GREAT BOOK! Very motivational book for anyone of is trying big things and feels stretched. This book will help motivate you and give you insights on when to stick and when to quit.

“Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time”.

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Some Key Points We Got From The Book

– Winners quit the right stuff at the right time.
– People settle for good enough instead of best in the world.
– Being well rounded is not the secret to success.

– Big things happen for those people who are able to push a bit longer than most.

Book #10

The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life by Avinash Dixit

No one likes games but it is worth knowing what games people play and knowing what strategies you can adopt into your life to help you make better decisions.

This is a really great book which will get you thinking ahead of your actions.

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Some Things We Learnt
-Game theory is the science of predicting the outcome of a scenario or game by understanding the rewards and risks associated with each decision.
– Knowing game theory can help you identify the best strategy for a goal or aspiration.

Book #11

A Happy Pocket Full of Money

This book that will help you rethink how to see money and your whole existence! The aim of the author is primarily to get you thinking in a completely new way about time, money, life and your goals.

A Happy Pocket Full of Money has a very different outlook and so I would suggest just taking what you can from the main themes and if the metaphysical stuff goes too far over your head…don’t worry! That being said, there are some very powerful mindsets you can get from this book and we think it is well worth the investment!

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Some Great Quotes From The Book

“The universe has more than enough business and wealth for everyone— way more than enough”.

“You have more potential in you than you can possibly use up in an entire lifetime or even in several lifetimes”.

“Money comes from prosperity. Prosperity is a feeling of having it all, being in the flow. This feeling attracts corresponding situations and opportunities. And this is eventually experienced physically as money and wealth. Prosperity is an inside job. Success is the person you become, not a point you chase after”.

Below Are The Books In This Article

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