99 business owners share their favorite books for inspiring entrepreneurs

Chris, Payment depot

Recommendation: Think and grow rich

Think and Grow Rich Chris Waltenbaugh Payment Processing Expert at Payment Depot Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill was originally published in 1937 and the wisdom contained in its pages is as relevant now as it was then.

Through interviews with the millionaires of his day (Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, etc) Hill develops and shares his thirteen-step formula for achieving success. One of the things that makes this guide so good is that no matter what kind of work you choose the formula works. If possible, I’d recommend reading an updated version that contains stories of modern success such as Bill Gates, Mary Kay Ash, and Dave Thomas.

Once you’ve read this book and absorbed what it’s saying, your whole mindset towards success, and what it takes to achieve it will be altered. If I had been exposed to this way of thinking at an earlier point of my life I have no idea where I’d be today but no matter where you are in your life you can find ways to apply Hill’s genius.

Jack, Iron Monk

Recommendation: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This book teaches you the basic principles of having a goal, learning about yourself, and being inspired to go and chase the goal. The book is about a boy who is a shepherd. He has a dream about buried treasure and goes on a journey across the Middle East to try to find this treasure. Along the way, he makes different choices and meets different people who teach him different lessons about how to persevere and work through challenges. He travels far and wide to find this treasure that he dreams about only to figure out that it was always within his reach from the very start.

 

The real lesson in this book is that your dreams are always within reach as long as you act with the right intentions and get some guidance along the way. The book alludes to the idea of reaching your true destiny and it does so in a way that a nonfiction motivational book can never match as far as entertainment and intrigue are concerned. The book itself doesn’t teach any business principles but it’s a great guide for how to live your life and run your business in a deeper sense. It is however a short easy read which is actually really good for a busy entrepreneur.

Cory, Cory A Rusin

Recommendation: The Buddha and the Badass

The Buddha and the Badass is a GAME CHANGER for any aspiring entrepreneur. Where many authors will lead you astray focusing solely on the hard skills you need to start your own business and a maintaining a “hustle” attitude, Vishen Lakhiani lays out EXACTLY how to build a business based on your core values and scheduling work around your life, not the other way around. In a world filled with stress and burnout culture, Vishen’s take on running your business will have you asking “why doesn’t every business already work this way?”

With exercises to help you get clear on your core values and your vision for your business, this is a book you’ll reference over and over again on your entrepreneurial journey. It will be your guide back to your own internal compass. There is a practice in this book called Lofty Questions that I started doing daily and it completely changed the way I not only run my business but live my life. Read this book, do the work Vishen has laid out, and you’ll be well on your way to creating a business that deeply fulfills you.

Michael Kansky, LiveHelpNow, LLC

Recommendation: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F’ck

Besides having a title that just makes one want to find out what it’s all about, it offers a seemingly counterintuitive approach to business and to life in general. People are always encouraged to care and be sensitive to every little thing, to do things right, and to work long and hard to achieve their goals. Manson digs deep and presents evidence that suffering has value, that we are meant to constantly be dealing with problems, and that selectively picking things to case about can serve us better.

I love this book because it teaches us how to live life and, subsequently, do business, as humans. It shows us that mistakes are not only ok to make, they are true “must-haves” for anything successful.

Perfectionism is a true curse for managers not only because they can strive to be perfect themselves, but also because they often call on others to make no mistakes. That is not only impossible, but it robs the workplace of the most important element of success: failure. This book teaches managers why and how to embrace failures and do it in a way that encourages and motivates others.

As we live in a society in the era of social media and global comparisons in business and in life, I think everyone could benefit from reading this book and remembering that mistakes are ok and that sometimes our days just suck. The answer is to not give a f’uck and Mark Manson teaches us how in this book.

This point of view especially comes handy in 2020 as we navigate this one giant long bad day that sucks and seems not to have an end. I believe we can all find comfort and navigate through the never-ending crisis with the attitude Manson encourages us to adapt.

If I were to write my own book in 2020 as well as in any other year, my main message to managers and team members everywhere would be simple: “Fail. Fail hard. Fail often. Make as many mistakes as you can. Without failure, there is absolutely no path to success.”

Phil Santoro, Wilbur Labs

Recommendation: Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company

Only the Paranoid Survive has been one of my favorite business books since first reading it a few years ago. With the recent business environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ideas presented are even more valuable. Andry argues that in a crisis, or Strategic Inflection Point as he refers to it, the old way of doing things goes out the window. The companies who embrace this change, win market share, and emerge stronger than before.

This is the exact condition that exists today, and why aspiring entrepreneurs should be optimistic about building companies during this time. All around us, industries and trends are evolving much faster than ever before. There are new consumer trends, which would have matured slowly over 5-10 years, fully maturing in a matter of months. This creates an opportunity for entrepreneurs to sit down, think about what the future will look like, and build a company for that. While older, well-entrenched companies are concerned with pivoting during a crisis, aspiring entrepreneurs can build the right way from scratch.

Jeff, The Critter Depot

Recommendation: Shoe Dog

Hands down, my favorite book about Entrepreneurship is Shoe Dog. It’s the biography of Phil Knight, and how he started Nike. This guy was the definition of grit. He graduated with an accounting degree from Stanford and would have had no problem landing a high-paying job. But instead of taking the easy route, Phil was so tenacious that he flew to Japan, bluffed some Japanese executives, and scored a deal to sell shoes in America.

And he was the exclusive provider! When he pivoted to Nike, he was so determined to make it work, that he worked a full-time job, was a father and husband, all while getting Nike off the ground. As a side-hustler with a full-time job, I can’t emphasize how admirable and inspiring that is.

Samantha, Corporate Entertainment Professionals Ltd

Recommendation: Profit First

This book has played a crucial role in me getting on top of my company finances. I got off to a late start managing my finances properly but once I read this book it changed my outlook on the way I managed my company finances. I would highly recommend this book to any aspiring entrepreneurs as it helps to understand the way it should be correctly distributed.

The book explains how you should create from the start of your business 5 or more different accounts, one for VAT, Tax, expenses, profit, and director wages. When you get paid the first thing you transfer is the profit and the rest gets filtered into the other accounts by percentages ( which the book clearly helps you work out). I have been caught out many times over the years by large tax and vat bills and by not understanding the best cash flow but this changed my clarity on the process).

Now we have this implemented the money is always there, my profit is there and we are never shocked when we get a vat/ tax bill as the money is always ready to go into the account. This author also has two other books called ‘ The toilet paper entrepreneur and The pumpkin Plan which are also very good recommendations.

Jeremy, Hustle Life

Recommendation: The Millionaire Fastlane

The Millionaire Fastlane is one of my personal favorites. I consider it one of the top books for entrepreneurs because the information applies directly to the affiliate business. It’s a contrarian stance on how to build wealth. MJ DeMarco teaches you how to think like an entrepreneur. He teaches you through the mindset you need to develop and why you need to approach the way you manage your time. It’s filled with many gems from someone who’s really done it.

Thanks for taking the time to read my recommendation about the best book for entrepreneurs. This sounds like an excellent premise for an article, and I would love to read the final results!

Nicole Garcia, Most Craft

Recommendation: The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

Created as a means to put realistic business ownership into perspective, the author, Chris Guillebeau explains that the most successful ventures are often born of passions, rather than luck or money. This is a book for anyone who wants to take that leap, is full of ideas, but has hesitated due to financial worries or lack of confidence.

Sometimes all it takes is a modest investment and the right plan to take the reins of your own vision and provide you the opportunity to turn dreams into realities. Motivational tips and tricks, and more importantly, detailed examples of the businesses that have gotten off the ground using this mentality, are included in this 304-page book. The steps to launch and grow your own micro-business as well as putting it into a realistic context is exactly what can help lead you to success.

Dayana, StoryChief

Recommendation: Chillpreneur

I recommend it because it helps aspiring entrepreneurs get past some of the confidence issues they might face, challenges with imposter syndrome, or other obstacles that stop an aspiring entrepreneur from starting. As we know, a lot of people fail before they start because of never actually getting started. I think it’s a great book to help entrepreneurs realize that there’s space for their experiences too.

Mimi Bosika, Delos Therapy

Recommendation: Daring Greatly

Book Summary: “Every time we are introduced to someone new, try to be creative or start a difficult conversation, we take a risk. We feel uncertain and exposed. We feel vulnerable. Most of us try to fight those feelings -we strive to appear perfect. In “Daring Greatly”, Dr. Brené Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability and dispels the widely accepted myth that it’s a weakness. She argues that, in truth, vulnerability is strength, and when we shut ourselves off from vulnerability -from revealing our true selves -we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”

Why I Recommend: The expert on vulnerability, Brené Brown, uses her research to show what it means to be brave in our endeavors and the payoffs we get. In business, I have noticed that courage is directly reflected in taking action and that lack of action typically is associated with a subconscious or conscious fear—fear of failure, fear of not being prepared, or fear of not being qualified. The act of starting a company takes the most courage because so much is at stake, such as operations, business expenses, staffing, administrative needs, commitment through good and bad, time investment, and uncertainty of the unknown. When people are scared to fail, they are not ready to take action.

This lack of courage may translate as why some people may delay or discourage themselves to start companies, do not want to be managers and may rather be individual contributors, or why staff members may not ask employers for promotions, time off, etc., because there “will be a better time to ask later”. Leaders exude their innate courage to step up to the plate to lead, take risks, have difficult conversations, and execute the actions that most are unwilling to do, no matter when. Courage doesn’t mean there is always a lack of fear, but rather that action is more important than this fear.

Brandon C. White, Build a Business

Recommendation: The Celestine Prophecy

Entrepreneurs have to believe they can do things they don’t think they can do. Only Entrepreneurs will understand that statement.

They rely on hunches, gut feelings, and need an unwavering craving of curiosity. Things don’t go as planned often when building a business and to get through the key is to ask “Why?”.

Why did this happen, why did that customer say that, why is this happening in the market, etc..

The Celestine Prophecy gives guidance, puts into words that which is hard to do. And provides a framework Entrepreneurs can use to apply to all the stages of building a business. I don’t want to ruin it, but the 9 insights will help guide your Entrepreneur journey regardless of your religion or lack thereof. Highly recommended.

Emma, Cacao Tea Co

Recommendation: How to Win Friends and Influence People

In my opinion, the best book for personal development that every professional should read is “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Although the book was published in 1936, it is as relevant today as it was back then. While the book is not specifically about business, it provides great tips on how to win loyalty from others and influence their way of thinking, which are essential skills for any professional. Company: Cacao Tea Co. Name: Emma Miller, Director of Marketing.

Brenton Harris, DIY Cleaning Co

Recommendation: The 4-Hour Work Week

The most important book for me is (and probably always will be) The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Though it’s a tad dated, the book does a good job of kick-starting your imagination when it comes to developing product ideas based on knowledge and experience. This “muse” business–the main hustle that requires minimal time/attention–is a fantastic dip into entrepreneurship (and to those paying attention, an excellent source of capital for future, perhaps more meaningful projects).

What’s more, the step-by-step guide to phasing out your day job while growing your side hustle significantly reduces your excuses for putting off your great ideas. Starting and growing a business requires constant out-of-the-box thinking, as well as a fearless willingness to face rejection and failure. Ferriss’s “discomfort” challenges and resources sprinkled throughout the book (as well as the massive amount of reader-contributed suggestions online) make this an applicable yet engaging read, both on paper and as an audiobook.

Tina, TeamStage

Recommendation: Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Start With Why is the book that inspired me to become an entrepreneur. When I was conceiving the idea to start my own company and create a product I’ll be happy to use, I immediately got into the jumble of “how” and “what,” forgoing to grasp the “why” fully. Simon Sinek has helped me frame my ideas and thoughts, which empowered me to present them more convincingly to potential partners and collaborators.

The book illuminates how a company can offer value to the customers and build a strong, trustful internal culture. Starting off my career as an employee, I’ve witnessed many companies that used the manipulative techniques (as Sinek calls them) to get the results, and I’ve always felt that there was something wrong with the “carrot and stick” method. Sure, everyone reacts to the possibility of promotion or raise, but how many people feel genuinely part of something great, an idea they would personally vouch for?

The book has inspired me to start my own business in a way that was aligned with my ethical principles. It propelled my desire to change the world in the small way I can – by leading a company that inspires people to invest themselves in its success. In the process, the book reminded me of my core beliefs and helped me grow as an entrepreneur and businesswoman who can take on ever more ambitious goals.

Jeremy Ong, HUSTLR

Recommendation: Outliers: The Success Story

I strongly recommend this book. This book is a must-read and inspiring book for every entrepreneur and business owner. The most attractive thing in this book, that it’s trying to answer a critical question which is “What makes high-achievers and successful people different! it discusses different angles of their lives to answer that question such as their background, cultures, and even their unique and private life experiences. I am sure that this book will entertain your mind and open your eyes to see unexpected new things.

Jonathan, The Search Guy

Recommendation: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

It is one of the best books I recommend for an aspiring entrepreneur. It is a different take on a business book as the story is presented in a fast-paced thriller style. This book stands the test of time. The lessons inside will teach you what you need to know about management and breaking through constraints.

Tom, DevSkiller

Recommendation: Steve Jobs

I always like to recommend the Steve Jobs book written by Walter Isaacson to aspiring entrepreneurs, since there’s no better example of entrepreneurship success than the legacy that left the man who created one of the most powerful companies worldwide nowadays.

Isaacson recreates Jobs’ journey on his way to becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever, giving special attention to the passion and love that he put into his project, which led Apple to become what it is today: a revolutionary company in the technology field.

In this biography, we can see the “human” side of Jobs, which was far from perfect; we can go through his mistakes, how he learned from them, and how he used them to perfect what was in his mind. This book is a must-read for all those entrepreneurs giving their first steps, as it will serve them to see the big picture of what becoming an entrepreneur is.

Kate Rubin, Rubin Extensions

Recommendation: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: Time-Tested Methods for Conquering Worry

As an entrepreneur starting out, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of worry. Worry over not making enough sales worry over a contract falling through, or a problem with your supply chain. Worry about not being good enough or worrying over lost sleep because you’re worrying so much! As entrepreneurs, we worry – it seems to come with the territory. And do you know what worrying achieves – nothing? It only leads to more stress, more worry, and ultimately, more problems for your business.

This book is a timeless classic that will help you see your worries in a new light and one I would recommend any and every aspiring entrepreneur to read to keep your worries in perspective so it doesn’t get in the way of your health or your chances of success. It’s amazing how much mental space you free up when you learn to take control of your worrying mind.

Matt Heinz, Heinz Marketing Inc

Recommendation: No Forms. No Spam. No cold Calls

The world needs more bold, exponential thinking to help businesses and brands stand out, challenge the status quo, and create sustainable value. This book is both an example and a challenge to help B2B marketers succeed.”

Sharon, Media Connect

Recommendation: Profit or Wealth? Simple Rules For Sustainable Business Growth

It is a terrific book by “Profitability Master”, Ruth King, where she gives business owners the best ways to avoid business failure. By following the 10 rules of profit and the 10 rules of wealth, business owners can live the life of their dreams. Or at least avoid living a nightmare.

Unfortunately, many business owners only worry about profits and ignore business wealth building, but a business needs both. Without building wealth, the business can still go bankrupt as we’re seeing in the days of COVID 19. This book gives business owners clear, no-nonsense, and simple rules to build business wealth, which can translate to personal wealth.

Stacy Caprio, Stacy Caprio Inc

Recommendation: The 4 Hour Workweek

It is one of the best books for any aspiring entrepreneur to read. Reading it changed my life for the better and was one of the things that inspired me to work for myself. It helped me understand how working smart is often better than simply working hard. It also introduced me to the idea that it was possible could outsource most tasks involved in running a business.

Husam Machlovi, With Pulp

Recommendation: The Effective Executive

This is a book that I go to often to help me navigate my journey as a business owner and leader.

The Effective Executive is packed with very specific insights and advice on what the role of an Executive is at a company. This includes how the executive should and should not spend their time, how the executive can support their people, what does it mean to be effective, how to be more productive in a leadership role, how to build on people’s strengths, how to staff the right people, how to prioritize work, how to make good decisions, and so on.

It’s a dense book but that’s what makes it so amazing. It’s my playbook for tackling the challenges that my business faces, as well as the challenges that I create for myself as I’m learning on the go how to be the best entrepreneur I can be.

Israel Gaudette, Link Tracker Pro

Recommendation: Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible

It offers seven radical principles you need to transform your business today. A systematic, easy-to-implement method for identifying new business opportunities and solving difficult problems. It looks at hard trends – a projection based on tangible facts, events, and objects. These are future facts and will definitely happen. It also looks at soft trends – things that may happen based on statistical analysis.

I highly recommend this book. It totally shakes up my thinking and made me transform my business as to what it is now. This book armed me with ideas that let me determine which parts of the future we can be right about, and I was able to build my business plans based on certainty. Quickly recognizing failures and acting on it immediately. I never stick with what I know and always redefine anything and everything about my business.

Hopefully, I was able to convey some ideas that you needed. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts. It is something that I think about a lot and would love to read what other people have to say about it. Please send me a copy of your article, as I would like to read it!

Ashwini Rao, PMExperto

Recommendation: The Lean Startup

The lean startup is about not practicing the traditional business as most of the established company is doing in the market. According to the book, we should start with a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and sell it to some customers.. But the important part is taking feedback from them.

After that measure metrics, make improvements, keep testing different aspects, split test different products with a different audience.

This feedback and testing will save a thousand hours of making strategies and analyzing your startup.

I liked this book because I can relate this to myself. I had started a startup without thinking much about other aspects and kept testing every aspect of it. I daily measure the important and valuable matrix of my business and split tests. Sometimes they work great for me and sometimes I have to step back. But it is true that it helps me a lot and saves time.

Mike Allen, The Fashion Jacket

Recommendation: The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

The title of the book itself is as interesting as the examples given by Guillebeau because according to his experience you don’t need loans, funds, or wealth to start up as an entrepreneur. All you need to do is,

– Simply turn a passionate hobby into a business model by starting with less

– Find success through the balance between what you love and what other people care about

– Know your customers inside out, specifically in terms of shared beliefs and values

– Invest in your business after you have seen initial success

– Organic growth is more successful than traditional forced advertising

– Make your business model around two lists, what you need to accomplish and who do you need to keep up with

Lastly, according to Chris’s key principles: If you’re good at one thing, you’re probably good at something else; never teach a man to fish—sell him the fish instead; and in the battle between planning and action, action wins.

Bilawal Gul, Website Copywriting

Recommendation: Market Wizards

This book is a cover-to-cover valuable book on many fronts because it provides an in-depth look into the lives of the most successful trading entrepreneurs. There are interviews with the traders who have shared the insights of their unique approaches and success and failure they experienced along the way without sugarcoating anything, unlike many other books that have only success stories.

As an amateur trader, it is extremely important to get the basics of forex right because when trading is done right, the returns are striking. When done wrong, the losses are debilitating. Therefore, this book is an excellent starting point for aspiring traders who want to learn more about commodities and want to pull short-term profits from the forex market by learning from the experiences of a fortuitous entrepreneur

Adam Hempenstall, Better Proposals

Recommendation: Rework

I’ve always been a huge fan of Basecamp and its founders because of their principles and the way they scaled their business. This is why the book I want to recommend is Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. In short, it’s a book like no other business book and instead of actionable tips, it gives you bits and pieces of advice. The main premise of Rework is that unlike the days of old, practically anyone can launch a business nowadays.

Moreover, the tools that were reserved for professionals only are now available to everyone. Rework teaches you the basics of starting your own business, no matter who you are and what you’re good at. It uses simple language to explain what it takes to launch your own business. If you have a day job and you’re struggling to get out of it, this is the book I’d recommend picking up.

Eliza Nimmich, Tutor The People

Recommendation: CONNECT THE DOTS

Connect the Dots would encourage many budding entrepreneurs who have never completed B-school by busting the illusion that business school degrees are key to creating a profitable enterprise. This novel, written as a dialogue, is divided into three parts, consisting of stories of twenty businessmen from across India. In the first segment are covered tales of ambitious individuals who took the lesser traveled routes and set up a thriving company.

The second segment includes seven entrepreneurs rising, powered by success and enthusiasm. In the third segment are protected innovative individuals who effectively harness their tremendous abilities to build a market forum for themselves.

Bruce Harpham, SaaS Marketing Services

Recommendation: Sell It Like Serhant

Aspiring entrepreneurs may decide to start their business because they have a great product idea. Others might be excited by the financial opportunities involved. However, nothing happens in business until a sale is made. That’s why I recommend “Sell It Like Serhant” by Ryan Serhant. The author is a highly successful real estate sales professional who is known for selling multi-million-dollar properties in New York City.

I’m not in the real estate industry and I found the book tremendously valuable. Serhant provides excellent tips on how to manage your time and money to increase sales. In particular, his recommendations on how to build a follow-up system to stay in touch with potential and past customers is priceless. As an entrepreneur, you need the ability to sell. You might be selling investors and bankers on providing capital. Even more important, you need the ability to sell your product to customers.

Serhant shows us that sales success is not about charisma. Instead, it is a set of learnable business and social skills. For more insights on how to apply this book’s insights, check out my review: Why Tech Marketers Should Read “Sell It Like Serhant” Even If You Have No Interest In Real Estate.

James, Eventuring

Recommendation: The 9-to-5 Escape Artist: A Startup Guide for Aspiring Entrepreneurs and Digital Nomads

This book will totally bring your perspective out of the conventional 9-to-5 jobs. Christy Hovey gives out jammed-pack tips, information, and resources on how to be a money-making machine without compromising most of your time and happiness. Anyway, nobody wants to live a life with so little time and full of regrets right?

I love how Hovey speaks right through the mind of entrepreneurs not to fall into the 9-to-5 trap. Also, the book is stuffed with resources such as website links, tools, services, and strategies that are all relevant and relatable to all business owners (aspiring and established) on the secret behind the work-life balance concept. Not only you will find insights but you will be hooked over the writer’s humor and empowering words.

Hovey persuasively makes you want to be productive and efficient as you can be. Evidently, this book is highly recommended with 4.23 out of 5 ratings in Goodreads, surely making it worth the read.

Laura Moreno, HomeFlow

Recommendation: The Compound Effect

Starting a company is a marathon, not a sprint, and this book talks about the power of compounding your efforts to get the best results. Success is about being consistent, and this book tells you why.

Gwen Montoya, The MOB Nation

Recommendation: E-Myth Revisited

I always recommend the E-Myth to new entrepreneurs because it helps them understand which type of entrepreneur they are and where they’ll need help and support in the future.

It is so easy for someone to decide they want to start a business without understanding what is motivating them. Without that knowledge, they can quickly become stuck or disillusioned about what their life is supposed to look like.

With a solid understanding of the different types of entrepreneurs and what each one needs to succeed and thrive, new entrepreneurs are set up for success from the beginning. This book is one of the reasons I have clients take a personality test as part of my intake process.

Kevin Miller, The Word Counter

Recommendation: Growth Engines

I really enjoyed this book because it provides a ton of actionable tips and advice on growth marketing. The book features a bunch of amazing case studies from top-tier companies like Uber, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and many more. If you want to see specific strategies that these companies used to grow their business, then this book is for you. It offers strategies for both the early stages and later in development.

Patrick Garde, ExaWeb

Recommendation:

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

I would recommend his book, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, especially for aspiring entrepreneurs as his insights are pretty much applicable to modern businesses today.

His concept of The Golden Circle wherein “Why” is at the center of everything that you do. It is more important than “How” and “What”. It is an innovative concept as Simon says, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it..” According to him, most people communicate by beginning with “What” they do and eventually talk about “How” and “Why” they do it.

He also compares being a leader by being a parent. As a new parent myself, I can say that it is comparable.

Lastly, what I love about his book is that it instills inspiration. If you want to influence the behavior of your team, inspire them as opposed to manipulating them. You can be a great entrepreneur when you become a great leader through inspiration.

Yash Sharma, Learnerzhub

Recommendation: The ONE Thing

Entrepreneurs are busy people and are always surrounded by too many disparate things. This becomes a hindrance to business growth.

I recommend this book to an aspiring entrepreneur because, in this book, the author elaborates on why a person must always focus on only one thing and describes the ways to do so.

Here are some of the main points from the book:

– Start by ascertaining a goal that you want to accomplish

– Everything that you do is not equally important. Find those things that matter the most in helping you in achieving your goal.

– Concentrate on your larger goal every day. Set aside a time for it. During this time, shut down your email, turn off your phone, close all other things that cause distraction as your most important work deserves 100% of your attention.

Lastly, I wanted to say this book has a tremendous potential to increase one’s productivity and effectiveness. An entrepreneur can be hugely successful if he applies the advice given in the book.

Zhaneta, One Stop Life Insurance

Recommendation: The Slight Edge

The book is an easy read and it combines several of the fundamental principles of success. It lists the steps to change your mindset and the power of consistency. The once statement that I remember to this day is in order to be successful, you need to take small consistent steps in that direction. Sometimes, it appears that the steps are so small that it would not make an immediate difference, whether you take them or not.

However, they add up over time and we see the impact. For example, you are considering starting a blog or writing a book. In the big scheme of life, does it really matter if you skip one day? No, of course not. However, skipping one day leads to skipping two, then three and etc. The idea is that in order to achieve a higher level of personal or business success and development you need to be taking the small steps on a consistent basis.

To me, this summarizes the fundamentals of success in every area of life. The author does an amazing job in explaining in an easy way to read and understand the matter.

Johannes Larsson, Financer.com

Recommendation: The E-myth Revisited

E-myth revisited is the best book for the entrepreneur who is going from self-employed to business owner and wants to move on the scale, and expand without being the bottleneck as a CEO or founder.

The book was an eye-opener for me. Especially the concept of the 3 fundamental roles within a company, “The Entrepreneur”, “The Manager”, and “The Technician”, and why it’s so important to know which one you are, and making sure you have one of each.

Many entrepreneurs are in fact spending their time as technicians and managers, and not as an entrepreneur.

I would recommend this book to all aspiring entrepreneurs who want to get a new perspective on how to run their business and learn how to properly delegate.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is: “Work on your business, not just in it.”

Umberto Luchini, Wolf Spirit Distillery

Recommendation: The Long Tail

“I had made the decision to leave the corporate world, and whilst I wasn’t sure what the next phase of my life would lead me to, I was seeking inspiration in books that took into account past experiences, present facts, and future trends, as well as a mix of economic theory and practical experience. I had majored in Economics in the early 90s and — after decades of practical and hands-on experiences — wanted to tap back into academic thinking. The Long Tail was suggested to me by an investment banker friend who had completed many M&A deals in the wine business.

“In broad terms, ‘The Long Tail’ explains the rise of the niche in a world where everything is available to everyone; seeing that you do not have to be ‘big’ to succeed inspired me to start my entrepreneurial adventure. Our culture and economy are shifting away from a relatively small number of “hits” (the STARBUCKS of the world), toward a huge number of niches (the BLUE COFFEE of the world). Demand will continue to shift from that for a few big products to demand a broader range of small products.

When you plot this on a graph, this trend looks like a long tail. The phenomenon is mainly driven by the declining costs of production and distribution — especially online distribution — so there is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers. This basically means that narrowly-targeted goods and services can be as economically attractive as mainstream ones. This reassured me, from an economic theory standpoint, that I could succeed in my first entrepreneurial ideas. So, I jumped in!”

Shakera Thompson, TKA Law Firm

Recommendation: Rich Dad Poor Dad

There are countless great business books out there and, depending on who you ask, the one I’m about to suggest isn’t one of them. However, if you are anything like I was before taking a leap of faith to become an entrepreneur and you are hesitant to leave the security of a “steady paycheck”, I highly recommend reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. While this book didn’t necessarily introduce a ton of new concepts for me, it prompted me to change my way of thinking about certain concepts. For example, I was certainly aware of different tax implications for varying types of income, but Rich Dad Poor Dad really jump-started my process of reconsidering what this meant for me specifically. While there are certainly many challenges that come with entrepreneurship, the tax benefits often outweigh these challenges substantially. Although I previously worked at large international firms and was paid well, when I sat down and really crunched the numbers and potential tax benefits, entrepreneurship was a no brainer.

Missy Narula, Diapertainment

Recommendation: Let My People Go Surfing

“It is the narrative around the building of Patagonia. Business leaders must focus both on building a company and building a culture simultaneously. This book was remarkable because, in many ways, the culture built the company. I believe strongly that companies lacking a foundation of values do not survive in the long-term, and this book reiterated that authentic investments in people and culture can pay off long-term for all stakeholders: shareholders, employees, and customers.”

Paige Arnof-Fenn, Mavens & Moguls

Recommendation: How To Win Friends & Influence People

In my experience, you can learn a lot from books that offer practical advice whether you are someone just starting a career in business as well as anyone managing and leading a team. It was published almost 100 years ago and the advice has held up so you cannot go wrong with this one. Here are my key takeaways on leadership, influence, success, and dealing with people:

* Always begin with praise and honest appreciation.

* Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person and only call attention to other people’s mistakes indirectly.

* Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.

* Use encouragement, make any fault seem easy to correct, and let the other person save face.

* Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise” so that you give the other person a strong reputation to live up to.

* The goal is to make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest so remember when dealing with people you are not dealing with creatures of logic but creatures of emotion, creatures who have prejudices and are motivated by pride and vanity.

* The only way to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.

* If there is anyone secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s perspective as well as from your own.

Kate Hunter, Women Connect Co

Recommendation: How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job

Halfway through Chapter 1, I was so angry with this book that I slammed it shut and paced up and down the hallway. Why? Because it was pointing out my flaws, holding a mirror up to the ideas and scenarios that I had created in my head, and laid them out in print right before my own eyes.

The reasons I left the industry were mostly systematic, societal, and a lot of the blame game going on in my own head. This book made me look at the stories I was telling myself and forcing me to accept the role that I played in those stories. Not every chapter will resonate with you, the reader but the chapters that do will hit your core.

When I was able to see the habits and patterns that made me feel unseen I was able to make a change inside myself that made me a better leader, business owner, and contributor to my community.

Steve Keighery, Home Buyer Louisiana

Recommendation: Good to great

This book had a tremendous effect on my company. There are some paradigm-shifting concepts like “Good is the enemy of Great” backed up by great research and empirical evidence. After reading the book we reprioritized our projects and focused only on great opportunities. This had a material effect on our revenue and profitability.

David Busker, FranchiseVision

Recommendation: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

This helped me deeply consider how I wanted to approach the market within my field of expertise while starting a new business. Marketers have gotten more sophisticated and science has proven what types of communication will make our brains respond. At the same time, technology tools have lowered the barriers to entry (cost and expertise) so that anyone with a broadband connection has access to these strategies and tactics. Therefore, there is so much noise and rush for the customer’s attention that every business looks the same. Godin points this out in the book that the key to success is to find a way to stand out—to be the purple cow in a field of lookalike cows.

Godin argues that you can’t just color your product or service purple after the fact. You must create your product or service to be remarkable from the beginning, or you will be invisible. There are also subtle ways to achieve this, like simply being authentic, depending on your product and audience—each business needs to define it for themselves. I was inspired to think creatively by Godin’s modern business classic and I still refer back to it often, especially when I get stuck following the herd. For any budding entrepreneur, this should be on the required reading list.

Casey Halloran, Costa Rican Vacations

Recommendation: Good to Great

This was the one that hit me in the face like a bucket of cold water. There are so many simple, practical, applicable nuggets in this book. Two that really shaped my thinking and helped my business get traction were:

1. First Who, then What — Basically meaning, you need the right people first, then the plan. That often means you need to kick the wrong people off the bus. Knowing the type of teammates you’ll need to get where you desire to go and evaluating whether you have the WRONG kind is vital…

2. Hedgehog Concept — One of THE hardest things to do when starting out is to keep ideas, processes, and strategy SIMPLE. But FOCUS is the key to great business and great leadership. Particularly hard in the early days is CHOOSING between ideas and opportunities, but focus and simplicity, while important in all stages of business, are life & death in the early stage when resources are scarce.

Martin Seeley, MattressNextDay

Recommendation: The $100 Startup

It goes with a quote of “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work” which tells what the book is all about. This book is for the young entrepreneurs that lack the skills or funds to start a business because everything is possible with perseverance and faith. Nothing can stop a man who is dedicated to all he does and they will be successful no matter what the challenges are. This is my favorite book and I reread it whenever my business is struggling.

Masha, Carol Leggett PR

Recommendation: Orgasmic Leadership: Profiting from the Coming Surge in Women’s Sexual Health and Wellness

It tells the story of what drives, inspires, and sustains entrepreneurs in the rapidly growing global women’s sexual health and wellness space. Rachel Braun Scherl’s best-selling book reflects a wellspring of deep personal experience in pharmaceuticals, consumer products, women’s health as well as in-depth interviews with leaders in the sexual wellness field.

Rachel takes on women’s long-neglected needs and satisfaction with a strategic business focus, humor, insight, passion, and in the process, exposes an incredibly complex tangle of outdated barriers and challenges that stand in the way of the successful commercialization of women’s health products and services.

Scot, The Media House

Recommendation: The $100 Startup

Books, for me, are important to entrepreneurs, whether aspiring, starting, or established. Books are an invaluable source of knowledge and inspiration that can help us broaden our knowledge, widen our perspective, and improve our skills. A lot of people aspire to be entrepreneurs. Most aspiring entrepreneurs fear that they don’t have what it takes, such as the required skills or the needed funds, to be able to start a business.

That is why, for me, one book that every aspiring entrepreneur should read to inspire them and to motivate them is “The $100 Startup” by Chris Guillebeau. In this book, the author, Chris Guillebeau, tells the story of fifty different individuals who started and succeeded through personal passions and small investments. I recommend this book to aspiring entrepreneurs because this book will prove to aspiring entrepreneurs that with their natural talent or personal hobby or favorite activity, they can create a successful living and create a bright future.

Jacob, https://www.h1b.biz/

Recommendation: How to Win Friends & Influence People

It will guide you on how to form a deep connection with the people that you meet. This book withstood the test of time and it’s still a best seller until now. So if you’re looking for a book that will influence you on how you shape yourself to be a successful entrepreneur, this is the book for you. As for me, this book has sort of become my go-to book whenever I’m in a pickle and I can’t seem to win over somebody.

This book has helped me to start a successful law firm because it’s taught me how to to build rapport with the people I work with and my clients. It has also taught me to respect others’ opinions and never tell them they are wrong.

Gerardo, Sheep Buy Inc

Recommendation: The Lean Startup: How Today’s entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Business

A very important book that discusses the basic principles of being a successful entrepreneur. Moreover, the author delivers in this book deep practical experience and focuses on creative and innovative ways and solutions to have the ability to compete with others at the market and be successful. I think this is a really essential book for all entrepreneurs and business owners. Thank You!

Timo, Asap Credit Solutions

Recommendation: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Even though I am now the CEO of my own company, I still fill myself with knowledge and learnings that can help me in surviving my everyday life. A lot of people depend on me so I should never run out of ideas or ways on how to improve myself and the business. I have been reading thousands of books even before to get ideas and learn from the experience of other entrepreneurs in this world.

This book will make you realize how important our own perception is in finding success. It states that to change a situation, you must change yourself, and in order to change yourself, you must change your perceptions first. The learnings and advice from this book have greatly helped me to be where I am today.

Angela, World Financial Group

Recommendation: Entrepreneur Rollercoaster

The book by Darren Hardy explains the ups and downs of an entrepreneur. It helped me a lot at the beginning of building my business because I realized I wasn’t the only one dealing with what I was. I realized I wasn’t alone, and that is one of the feelings that take lots of new business owners out of the life of an entrepreneur.

Tasha Danielle, Financial Garden

Recommendation: Amina’s Bracelets: A Kidprenuer Story

It’s a story about a little girl starting her own business, teaching kids how to successfully manage their money while using their resources and creative ideas. Financial Garden has kicked off an initiative to empower and teach 10k kids about entrepreneurship amongst many other financial seeds. We think that any kid that has an idea to start a business should read Amina’s Bracelets to kick start their passion for their business.

Kylee, Crushing B2B Digital Strategies

Recommendation: Traction

It is one of the best books for aspiring entrepreneurs. This book has everything aspiring entrepreneurs need to start a business on the right foot. Traction discusses the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) model and how entrepreneurs can apply it to their company. The EOS model builds a foundation for businesses that is adaptable to scale and achieve more success. By mastering the EOS model, aspiring entrepreneurs become better leaders and gain a mindset of growing, grow, grow.

Wickman dives deeper into the six core components of the EOS model, yet still makes these components into easily digestible concepts. He provided real-world examples in his book, citing stories of successful business owners. Plus, Wickman also included worksheets so entrepreneurs can kickstart their application of the EOS model.

Abhishek Joshi, Dog with Blog

Recommendation: Zero to One

I particularly enjoyed the steps to building a successful business in today’s world. really opens up your mind to what makes a great Startup and also puts into perspective what makes a good idea to form a startup on. The content is adapted from Blake Masters’ lecture notes from Thiel’s 2012 Stanford Course.

This definitely helped keep the book concise and fast-paced. The chapters are sparse with thought-provoking and enticing phrases that really pique your interest and keep you engrossed, for instance: Competition is bad for business and, a Monopoly is the condition of every successful business. Raw, honest, and brutally savage!

Essentially Peter believes we should stop killing ourselves with incremental gain startups, and instead focus on delivering 10X value. Anything less isn’t worth your time, which of course is our most precious asset.

Yulia, Chanty

Recommendation: The Lean Startup

I first learned about this book when I found out that it inspired the creation of Dropbox and the way they work. In short, the book is not about creating a “lean” startup with a small team. Instead, it focuses on strategies for every move you make as a business. When you’re just starting out, you don’t have the time or money to waste on trying out different strategies and failing until you succeed.

This is why it’s important to plan ahead and employ strategies that let you use minimal resources to achieve great results. The “lean” part means using as little time and resources as possible to launch a startup and make it profitable. For me personally, it was really beneficial that the book focused on the software industry and that a big chunk of it was about improving customer service to achieve better results.

Roman Prokofyev, Jooble

Recommendation: Originals

According to Adam Grant, people who are not afraid to expand their own life experience, sometimes in the most unobvious and sometimes contrary to common sense ways. It is entirely unnecessary to be nonconformist in life: generally speaking, not everyone needs to be. But, if you wish, it is quite possible to consciously become one of them, or at least learn something from these people, making your life more diverse and rich.

Adam says that coming up with a good idea is not that difficult – it is much more challenging to choose the best among many others. Building a strong corporate culture is not easy – but it is much more difficult to make a change if it is no longer relevant to keeping the status quo. It is worth thinking twice before openly criticizing bosses – but there are companies where such criticism is not only allowed, but also encouraged. We can include Jooble in this list, as we started encouraging criticism and feedback to executive-level long before I even know about this book.

Within the company, we believe that constructive criticism is one of the triggers for creative thinking and open-mindedness, so important in corporate culture.

Randy Vandervaate, Funeral Funds

Recommendation: They Ask, You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer

This book teaches that entrepreneurs must listen to our customer’s words, thoughts, and actions and respond to our customers’ needs. “It doesn’t matter what you think – what matters is what consumers think, how they behave, and what they expect.” Your whole marketing strategy should revolve around your customer’s experience and purchasing journey.

Consumers often make a poor decision by purchasing the cheapest product or service, not because they are price motivated only, but because they simply don’t know any better. Our responsibility as entrepreneurs is to educate our customers about the good, the bad, and the ugly of any product or service.

The more our prospect sees us as a teacher, rather than a salesperson, the more we earn their trust and respect. Customer trust becomes customer loyalty, which leads to more sales and revenue.

Michael Alexis, TeamBuilding

Recommendation: Extreme Revenue Growth

It covers the fundamentals of product development, sales, marketing, and more. The advice is solid, clear, and action-driven. Also, the narrative is very growth-focused, which means it will support you not only in the early stages of your business but also as it develops…

For example, when I first read Extreme Revenue Growth, one of the insights that stuck out to me was how and when to hire. One excellent piece of advice was that one highly productive person is often a better hire than several average performers. The growth version of that is how the book talks about organizational structure at various levels going to $10 million per year and beyond. Instead of guessing when you should hire a marketing director or HR director, the book just gives you a clear framework to follow.

Because of those clear frameworks, Extreme Revenue Growth is a book I would recommend other entrepreneurs to read too.

Ryan West, Ryan West Studio

Recommendation: Psycho-Cybernetics

Although not primarily a business book by nature, it is the book that has had the greatest impact on my life and on my business. Reason being that you cannot run a successful and healthy business without you yourself having a positive self-image and letting your internal success mechanism work. Maltz has many important lessons and concepts in the book.

One that stands out in terms of developing a prosperous business would be utilizing your inside success/creative mechanism which essentially means to define the issue clearly, then intensely think about the issue and gather as much information about it as you can, then drop any thought of it for a day or two and let your unconscious mind do the work and more often than not the possible solutions will come to you.

This technique was also used by Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison. This is just one lesson from the book but there are many more. It is the book I recommend most to my friends and colleagues. I hope you find it useful as well.

Caleb Pearson, Topsheet

Recommendation: Delivering Happiness

This is a wonderful book for aspiring entrepreneurs, Delivering Happiness is a book following Tony Hsieh’s journey to becoming the CEO of Zappos, and how he sold his online shoe store to Amazon for $850M while keeping control of his company. This book not only gives great insight into what it takes to be an entrepreneur but also gives amazing strategies on how to serve your customers better, wowing, and amazing them.

This book helped me get the right perspective on our customers at Topsheet, helping us not shy away from service calls with complaints, instead of looking at them for opportunities of how to serve our customers better, and win customers for life. I would encourage reading this book multiple times because there are so many fantastic pieces of information that can transform your company.

Tony’s understanding of creating a positive work culture has helped our company work better together and look forward to serving our customers. I highly suggest reading this book early in your entrepreneurial journey to set up a positive foundation for your company.

Tom Dempster, True Boost Digital

Recommendation: Company of One

It is the perfect blueprint for launching a lean startup by yourself. It moves away from the conventional wisdom that growth has to come from hiring employees or obtaining VC funding, and instead focuses on how you can become a profitable, sustainable company whilst maintaining a great work-life balance. This book isn’t just a great business book – it offers you a fresh perspective on how ‘work’ fits within your life as a whole.

I would highly recommend this book to any aspiring entrepreneur who is thinking of launching their own business.

Sonya Schwartz, Her Norm

Recommendation: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

I have always been an avid reader, and before I started my business, I have read a lot of books already. Because of this, I think I can recommend a book that I liked the most, a book that I think will give aspiring entrepreneurs inspiration and motivation.

This book outlines the habits you need to develop in order for you to be successful not only professionally, but also personally. How clear can that get? There is no fuzz, just good advice.

Shayne Sherman, Techloris

Recommendation: Startupland

Startupland inspired me by showing me how to scale like a tech giant to be able to become one. The book helped me look differently at hiring, daily choices, and making my business fulfilling for me. What was truly inspiring was the message that even a boring product can be exciting and how even in business we need to give back to our communities to succeed, people are just as important as the bottom line.

Chane Steiner, Crediful

Recommendation: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Where better to start to be inspired than with a Nobel prize winner. The book showed me how my own bias and perspective could stunt the growth of my business and give me tunnel vision. The book talked from two strains of thought, 1 is our impulsive and auto thoughts that operate without a real decision and the second is our calculating and deliberate decisions. This book helped me engage better in controlling knee jerk reactions and then make more conscious decisions. I go back to this book all the time.

Andrew, Credit Repair Companies

Recommendation: Crushing It

It’s a fantastic look at how everyday people can make it in this world (with a little ambition) and how it’s never too late to change your life thanks to the internet.

This book tells you everything there is to know about using different platforms to your advantage but also case studies into how others have done the same.

Its main point is that all it takes is hard work and dedication and you can enjoy the same results as others all around the world. It gives people hope that doesn’t believe they are as naturally talented as other people they aspire too, or still comparing themselves to the academic high achievers at school

 

Michael Lowe, Car Passionate

Recommendation: The Courage To Be Disliked

This self-help book will empower young people planning on being entrepreneurs – into realizing that it’s them, and them only who holds the key to their own happiness and wellbeing.

It will help you recognize and achieve your true happiness.

It is easy to read a book, but the words are profound and will stick with you for a really long time.

This book will give you the skills to look at the world from a completely different view and that it is completely different from the perspective that other people in business give you. It’s real talk and gives you insight into how things really work.

Neel Mehta, Car Concierge Pro

Recommendation: E-Myth Revisited

The book is about successfully launching and growing the small business, the backbone of the American dream. However, due to fast-paced globalization and corporatization, small business owners have to deploy the best strategies shared in the book to prevent failures during the first five years. Personally, as an entrepreneur, I have incorporated these tactics so that my business can go beyond the horizon.

1. Wearing multiple hats — from data entry job to CEO role.
2. Following the money, trail to learn from successful companies and leaders.
3. Hiring people with complementary skillsets for operations, business analysts, and data curators positions.
4. Working towards replacing myself so the business can reach newer heights.
5. Solving customer’s practical and realistic problems in the community.
6. Creating accountability through open and transparent communication methodologies.
7. Using the best tools for project management, CRM, data analysis, and more. (system and process-driven)

The book is worth a read if you’re a business owner or you aspire to become one!

Mason, Mattress Battle

Recommendation: The Obstacle Is the Way

An aspiring entrepreneur can be facing different challenges. These challenges are unique for everyone, but the responses are the same. We all feel frustrated, confused, helpless, depressed, and even angry and fearful. You’ll learn in this book various methods to understand, appreciate, and act upon the obstacles life gives you. It’s how you turn these obstacles into your advantage to avoid getting stuck in a difficult situation.

You don’t control when things get hard, but you can always control how you respond to it. It can show how patient, courageous, and reasonable you are. The things that test you will make you who you are. No matter how difficult the situation is, you’ll learn that overcoming obstacles will depend on your perception, action, and will. It’s not easy, but you can overcome anything that comes your way.

Never let anything hold you back. Obstacles are opportunities for improvements. Don’t just give up, and try everything you can to overcome those difficulties. As the book says, “Failure shows us the way—by showing us what isn’t the way.”

Anyway, I hope I was able to contribute to your article with my insights. This is an interesting and helpful piece, and I am excited to see how this turns out.

Lewis, Skill Scouter

Recommendation: The Art Of War

Sun Tzu has originally written that book to provide tactics, tips, and strategies on warfare, but as time progressed, people saw the application of life, school, and most especially, in business. One of the most notable tips included in the book is that all warfare is based on deception. This also applies to business. Never let your competitor know your plans or what you are thinking. Always make them think that you are going one way when the fact is, you are going the other. This way, you will be able to keep them clueless on what your next moves will be and guarantee your success.

Rohan Garg, Punya

Recommendation: Zero To One

Zero To One is a radical look at how to look at your startup. Certain ideas that we think are sacrosanct are challenged, including how monopolies are actually good for business and competition is not. Further, the book makes you look at your idea, no matter at what stage it is at, and evaluate whether or not you’ll be able to take it to the next level, or as the book says, from Zero To One.

The book delves into ideas of how working for a groundbreaking startup is more logical than launching your own startup which may not be able to bear the market forces. The generous use of real-life examples makes it easy to follow and puts all theory into practice. All in all, the book is a must-read for anyone who is confused about whether their business will scale, or is it time to call it a day. Happy Reading!

Stefan, Expandi

Recommendation: The 4-Hour Workweek

It is regarded by millennials as one of the fundamental pieces of literature that enable an entire generation of freelancers and digital nomads. The inspirational book documents the author’s journey of quitting his 9 to 5 job and becoming a full-fledged entrepreneur, leveraging technology to literally create a 4-hour workweek for himself.

His book still resonates today, as the lessons and inspiration will serve Gen Zers and millennials alike in becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own business in 2020. It helps present the realities and challenges of the daily life of an entrepreneur from the author’s perspective. You will learn to develop the mindset of an entrepreneur from the author’s personal journey to create his own job and thriving business by staying determined and focused during the entire process.

Overall the 4-Hour Workweek is an easy read, and even hysterically funny at times as the author goes in-depth into his thought processes and daily life routines. I would recommend it to any aspiring entrepreneurs and future business owners as a crucial book to help understand what it takes to start up your own business.

Daniel, Kodyl

Recommendation: How to Win Friends & Influence People

When I was starting my entrepreneur career, I had ambitious ideas about setting up my business and gathering people with skills in financial advising. I had no issues developing the business strategy, but I was somewhat insecure about the “people aspect” of the business. My main concern was whether I’d be self-confident enough to leave a good impression and quickly advance in the industry.

This book has given me the tools to think about my influence and make a strong and reliable impression on my potential partners and clients. It’s given me a voice to express my sincere appreciation when I was reluctant that it would be seen as a “weakness.” I’ve learned how to balance my assertiveness with the need for an authentic connection with people thanks to this book. I highly recommend it!

James, Mitrade

Recommendation: The Richest Man in Babylon

My suggested book above is quite simple and uses a story to inspire, motivate, and guide aspiring entrepreneurs. Of all the entrepreneurial books that I have read, this one stands out as one that uses minimal entrepreneurship jargon and goes straight to the point by guiding the readers on what to do…

The biggest reason why I admire the book is that it teaches us how to start small from where we are, how to find the best business ideas, the importance of successful mentors, the reason we should embrace mistakes, how to make money work for us, and more importantly; how to build and sustain wealth.

Unlike other books that simply tell you, “Find promising business ideas”, this one will show you how the author went about identifying an existing gap, funding the business idea, and growing the business. I would compare it to a template that can be easily applied in real life.

This is the best summary I can provide; the real juice is in reading this simple book full of age-old wisdom.

Chris, Click A Tree

Recommendation: The Art of Thinking Clearly

It is a brilliant book for aspiring entrepreneurs to see through the pitfalls of human thinking. Dobelli enlists 50 common flaws in our thinking, which usually lead us to be optimistic where we should be cautious, or where we’re trusting when we should be skeptical.

One super valuable tip for entrepreneurs is to visit graveyards more often. Because in our society we always see the successful people – the rock stars who made it, the soccer pros who earn millions, the best-selling authors being sold in every book shop.

What we don’t see are the millions and millions of people who have tried and failed. Visiting graveyards more often (even if only mentally) helps us to remain realistic about our chances at succeeding with our startup venues, and hence make us work harder and make smarter decisions.

It’s just one of the tips that help you think more logically and become more efficient in your business ventures, and I highly recommend you to read all of them.

Sir Sanju, gang&lani media

Recommendation: eSCAPE – The 4 Stages of Becoming A Successful Entrepreneur

What I loved about this book was that it really took things back to the basics. It appealed to a lot of what we forget about or take for granted. It helps aspiring entrepreneurs really lay the foundation in key areas of scaling, and most importantly it speaks to the most valuable asset in your growth, human capital.

One of the other key takeaways is the concept of intrapreneurship and how key it is to growing creativity within an organization. Most employees that work within a startup or new company, have somewhat of an entrepreneurial spirit, and by allowing that creative freedom it not only helps your team grow together, but it sparks innovation from within.

As an easy to read the book, it has lots of personal stories to make the content relatable. I strongly feel that as an aspiring entrepreneur this is a good read for general tips and an overview of what to expect, and the mindset needed to be successful.

Ashwin, WOW Skin Science

Recommendation: Mapping Innovation: A Playbook for Navigating a Disruptive Age

It is a simple and engaging read that goes deep into the major disruptors of our time and how they got to be who they are. Satell explains the different models of innovation and gives useful tips to future disruptors on how to approach developing an idea from a problem-solving perspective.

Brandon, Miracle Brand

Recommendation: The Obstacle is the Way

The book is loosely based on The Ancient Greek philosophy of stoicism which is built on the idea of turning obstacles into opportunities. This concept is extremely relevant when it comes to disruption and innovation in the present saturated market.

Lauren, The Quality Edit

Recommendation: Fair Play

It is more relevant than ever as working women are forced to run their businesses out of their homes and still are responsible for so much of the housework and childcare in quarantine. Eve’s fail-proof system makes it easy to “deal the virtual cards” you’ve been dealt with your significant other and run your household and marriage in a collaborative and joyful way.

Jason, Boundery

Recommendation: Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It….and Why The Rest Don’t

It is one of the best books for an aspiring entrepreneur. It is an MBA in 250 pages. It covers all the major categories an entrepreneur needs to consider when starting and scaling a business: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this book about systems and processes and how to scale them, as well as culture and how to manage and hire the right type of people.

Samiksha, Yummy Tummy Recipes

Recommendation: The 4 Hour Work-Week

This is a motivational book that is very action-driven. This book has profiles, case studies, and tips on many successful digital nomads. It helped me set up a successful food blog that today has 50K daily visitors and 5000+ social media followers.

Shel Horowitz, Going Beyond Sustainability

Recommendation: Regenerativity (making things better)

It shows businesses that marketing their “sustainability” (status quo) is not enough. The next frontier of marketing is “regenerative” (making things better). The book shows how to develop and market profitable products/services that turn hunger/poverty into abundance, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance. Its strategies would also apply to a business trying to market solutions to a pandemic like COVID.

Swati, HearMeFolks.com

Recommendation: Thinking Fast and Slow

Kahneman goes over the two systems found in our mind that can make and/or crush our sense to move ahead and to achieve in life thinking fast and slow. He writes about the fast and emotional system that makes up our whole mind. In there you will also find breakdowns of the various effects of each system on our mentality, success, and confidence. In particular, I found it an excellent guide on how to leverage efficiency for success.

David, ChipMonk Baking

Recommendation: Dune

I think sometimes entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs get too focused or bogged down in their day-to-day emotions or tasks which keep them from doing the deep thinking needed to unlock creativity and achieve a mindset that will lead to action. Dune is a book that will take you out of your daily world and push you to consider broader human needs, emotions, and philosophies in the background of an awesome sci-fi universe. The story is packed with questions on thoughts on politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, and over 60 years from its writing many of its words still carry value today.

One of my favorite quotes from the book: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain”

Ryan, Investing Simple

Recommendation: The E Myth

This book clearly outlines the crucial differences between being a technician, a manager, or a visionary for your business. Many entrepreneurs get stuck in the technician phase of the business, meaning they essentially create a job for themselves. What Michael teaches you is how to leave that to someone else while you focus on the visionary work, or the overall direction of the business.

I found myself getting stuck working in my business for a long time, rather than working on my business. This book helped me to hire new freelancers to take care of the day to day operations of my business, meanwhile I focus mostly on the big picture ideas. Not to mention, most entrepreneurs are bad managers. They end up trying to fill all of the roles of the business, being a manager, a leader, and a worker. This is typically a recipe for disaster.

Brian, Robben Media

Recommendation: The Fountainhead

Successful entrepreneurs have to follow what they believe in, ignore critics, and be original in their thinking above all else. Otherwise, their business is just like everyone else’s and soon they are barely surviving. In Ayn Rand’s book The Fountainhead, she teaches those very concepts of entrepreneurial success through a story. The fictional book’s main character, Howard Roark, is an architect entrepreneur who goes through trial after trial in his career. His teachers, peers, and clients all think he’s mad.

He does things his way, based on what he believes in, not to popular opinion. At one point, he’s forced to close shop and work a blue-collar job instead of designing skyscrapers cutting through the sky. Talk about heartbreak. Though he never waivers and things do turn around quite well for his career. I’ve read this book once years ago and have never forgotten the principles. It’s about time I read it again to stay sharp. If you’re a business owner or aspiring entrepreneur, Rand’s The Fountainhead is a must-read.

Andrea, Aspirify, Inc

Recommendation: E-myth Revisited

It is an older book, but one that teaches some of the best lessons you can learn when first starting out. I read it about 15 years ago and still think about its principles on a regular basis! Investing the time to read this book this summer, will help you with your business for years to come.

Kristin, Marquet-Media.com

Recommendation: From Nameless to Notable

With limited resources, most startups can’t afford to spend $3,500 a month on hiring a PR firm. To help small businesses gain a competitive edge in today’s overly-saturated marketplace, this guide teaches entrepreneurs how to brand their ventures, get media coverage, and use it to gain more media opportunities. It’s essentially the ultimate publicity guide for startups.

Majid, Film Jackets

Recommendation: Rich Dad Poor Dad

I was so inspired after reading this book because this book shows anyone can become an entrepreneur by being financially literate and the Author shows the difference of being financially literate and illiterate. He also defined how rich people avoid paying taxes legally while the middle class and poor stuck in paying more taxes.

Author Robert Kyosaki quotes in this book one of the most powerful sentences he wrote “The poor and middle-class work for money. The rich have money to work for them.” He explained this quote further by writing how a middle class or poor class people Study in school get good grades and then get a good safe job to keep working hard to be promoted.

I think this book is a must-read for every entrepreneur or someone who wants to be an entrepreneur in the future. I learned many new things by reading this book.

Rick, Tackle Village

Recommendation: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

One of the dirty secrets of being a successful entrepreneur is that it is hard work. Relentless, grueling hard work. Luckily you are doing exactly what you want to do in life, so it doesn’t necessarily feel like a grind. That said, we can always work more efficiently and that’s where management consultant David Allen’s book comes in – it teaches us that true productivity (as opposed to being ‘busy’) is directly proportional to our ability to relax. That’s his secret to helping people to achieve effective peak productivity and unleash their creative potential.

Joe Wilson, MintResume

Recommendation: The 7 Day Startup

It explains how he built a successful small business startup from scratch in 7 days (which then grew into over $400000 annual recurring revenue in a short period of time). After reading this book the reader will learn about choosing a proper business name, building a website in one day under $100, and proven ways to market business quickly. In this book, Norris beautifully explains how there is a very big difference between someone entering their email and someone paying you each month for a product. To really test whether you can build a business, you have to start building it.

Sam, CBD Diablo

Recommendation: Oversubscribed

As far as I’m concerned this book is an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to build a business that grows quickly and has people lining up to buy from you. Daniel lays out very simply how to create a buzz around your business which will result in high demand for whatever you’re selling.

For example, his concept of the “content gorge” is one which we’ve really focused on with our business – the idea is to create lots of content and publish it in lots of different places online, so when somebody is researching about your business they see you mentioned everywhere. The idea is that everywhere the searcher turns online, they find mentions of your brand. If you can create this kind of “content gorge” with your brand, you’ll grow like wildfire. We owe a lot of our growth to this book.

Irial O’Farrell, Evolution Consulting

Recommendation: The Leadership Pipeline

When setting up a business, the business owner plays all roles in the business, from being the main “doer” of work right up to having the vision and strategy. All tasks fall into their job description. As the business grows through, and there are more people around, it can be very difficult to recognize who should be doing what. As a result, the business owner is too busy doing tasks and doesn’t recognize their role in designing and changing processes, figuring out root cause analysis and implementing solutions, setting the strategy and, the biggest mind- shift of all, getting the work done “through the team”.

This insightful book explains the different levels of management/leadership within an organization and where the attention should be, be successful at that level. For entrepreneurs, it explains what level a task might fall into. It also explains that, if a level is missing (as is often the case in a small business), the responsibilities of the level(s) below float up, rather than disappear.

Aaron, Pharmacy Tech Scholar

Recommendation: How to Win Friends and Influence People

Effective networking and relationship building is essential throughout the entrepreneurial journey. I truly believe this is one of the most important traits of an entrepreneur. This ageless book is always a great reminder to me on how important it is to be genuinely interested in other people.

By being genuine and following the principles in the book, you can forge relationships that will strengthen your ability to navigate the perils of business ownership. More importantly, you’ll build friendships that you value above and beyond your personal interests.

Stephen, Financing Solutions

Recommendation: Tipping point

There is a chapter in this book that talks about the 10,000-hour concept and Gladwell relate that to how long it takes to become a professional at what you do. I believe that it takes 10,000 to become a professional entrepreneur or business owner where you really know what you are doing. As you are building your business this concept reminds us, business owners, that we have to keep learning to get to that 10,000 hours as quickly as you can.

Alicia, The Product Analyst

Recommendation: How To Win Friends And Influence People

Back to my days when I was still aspiring to be an entrepreneur, this business classic had been my best guide. What I love about it is that it doesn’t only focus on strategies, tips, or secrets to be a good entrepreneur—topics that other references these days highlight most. It tells about commitments aspirants will experience and will value in their entrepreneurship journey: How to build connection, trust, and friends.

I think every aspiring entrepreneur needs this especially now that being felt is harder in the digital world, plus the pandemic. It doesn’t teach you how to compete, but how to overcome challenges on your own, and improve your growth without downgrading others.

David, Stand Up Paddle Boards Review

Recommendation: Building A Story Brand

Marketing is a huge part of any business. Companies spend tons of money to get their products and services out there. The problem is that most of the old tactics don’t work. At the end of the day, you waste money and your products don’t sell as much as you expected them to.

In this book, the author suggests a proven method to help you communicate clearly to the customer. Basically, the method involves addressing the customer and their needs then letting them know how you will address this need for them. You give them a solution to avoid a specific downfall and attain a certain benefit. All this is done in very few words.

I recommend this book because people are tired of the sales-y language. It repels instead of attracting. The Story Brand strategy teaches you how to talk in a way that will make your potential customers listen.

Finn, Learnopoly

Recommendation: The One Thing

This might come as a surprise as it’s not strictly a business book. Here’s my rationale: starting a business is challenging but not impossible. And no one book will teach you everything you need to know about running a business. So instead it’s better to get a book that will provide you with a framework to make decisions and encourage you to get started. That’s exactly what you’ll get with The One Thing. A practical framework for ruthless prioritization of tasks.

This helped me in my own business journey as it meant that I was always focused on the most impactful thing. It radically changed the way I worked, the choices I made, and ultimately the results I got. I maximize my time and avoid burnout (the killer of a lot of young businesses). In The One Thing, you will learn how to: identify what to focus on to take your business to the next level, how to defeat distraction and procrastination, and how to maximize your willpower.