If there’s one common denominator that a lot of successful entrepreneurs share, it would be them taking the time to invest in themselves.
If you aspire to join the number of wealthy entrepreneurs, reading is an invaluable skill. Books lead us into new ways of thinking power, help us push through the hard times, and teach us how to become successful business men and women.
Every once in a while, you read a book that changes you — inspiring your career, clarifying your goals, challenging your thinking. The right book can give you the courage to start your business, the reality check that you’re not yet ready or the quiet affirmation that you’re not alone in your fears or ambitions. It can set you on your path to success.
1. How to Win Friends & Influence People
This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated.
“let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers,” and “talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.” Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks. — Joan
Buy Here: How to Win Friends & Influence People
2. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
It’s no secret that in any field, small teams have many advantages — they can respond quickly, communicate freely, and make decisions without layers of bureaucracy. But organizations taking on really big challenges can’t fit in a garage. They need management practices that can scale to thousands of people.
What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization?
Buy Here: Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
3.The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup — practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog.
the Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz’s personal and often humbling experiences.
Buy Here: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
4. Mark Sanborn: ‘The Leadership Challenge’ by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge is a faith-based companion to the best-selling leadership book of all time — The Leadership Challenge. Grounded in Jim and Barry’s time-tested research, Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge describes their Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.
Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart — and offers practical guidance and inspiring examples about how Christian leaders can have a powerful impact in their workplaces, communities, and congregations by bringing their faith into their leadership.
Buy Here: Mark Sanborn: ‘The Leadership Challenge’ by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
5. The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau shows you how to lead of life of adventure, meaning and purpose — and earn a good living.
This book is a great read for anyone looking to start a small business. For The $100 Startup, Guillebeau created a list of 1,500 individuals with self-built businesses that started on a modest budget and later turned at least $50,000 in annual profits, and from that pool, Guillebeau focused on 50 for the book itself.
6. The Magic of Thinking Big
“This book has helped me overcome countless obstacles. If I start a project and become overwhelmed, re-reading it focuses and reminds me of all the tools I can use to achieve any goal.”
Millions of readers have acquired the secrets of success through The Magic of Thinking Big. Achieve everything you always wanted: financial security, power and influence, the ideal job, satisfying relationships, and a rewarding, happy life.
Buy Here: The Magic of Thinking Big
7. The Victorian Internet
The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s On-line Pioneers
“This is a fascinating history of the telegraph and how it was arguably more impactful on communications than the Internet. Standage articulates the parallels between the two paradigm shifts very well and illustrates how even large-scale technology innovations have similar socio-political repercussions through the centuries.”
Buy Here: The Victorian Internet