Well, the birthday celebrations are over (see pics) and now it’s time to get back to work!
To get re-inspired (and looking for an excuse to just read about business for the next few days), I browsed through my personal collection of business books for entrepreneurs this morning and decided to make a recommended reading list for you and yours who are in the entrepreneurial spirit this season.
You’ll find a mix of both modern and classic instructional business books, some purely inspirational and others that are no-b.s. practical – with product descriptions supplied by Amazon.
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Ziglar on Selling: The Ultimate Handbook for the Complete Sales Professional
by Zig Ziglar
A successful sales professional clearly understands that education and preparation for the task is never finished.
It is a lifetime experience, and in Ziglar on Selling, best-selling author Zig Ziglar offers an integral part of the ongoing education.
Filled with practical tips and motivation, this book will help sales professionals keep their clients happy, add to their income, and most importantly, add to their quality of life.
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Scientific Advertising
by Claude C. Hopkins
Claude Hopkins, the father of modern advertising techniques, believed that “Advertising is salesmanship,” and as such it should be measurable and justify the results that it produced. In Scientific Advertising, he explains precisely how to do that, and the principles he discovered and documented are as true today as when they were first written.
This business classic covers mail-order marketing, headlines, psychology, strategy, budgeting, and more advanced subjects like negative advertising and how to test an advertising campaign. Whatever advertising medium you use, from print to the Internet, the fundamental principles of Scientific Advertising are universal and timeless. Newly designed and typeset for modern readers by Waking Lion Press.
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No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs
by Dan Kennedy
For more than 30 years, author, consultant, speaker, and entrepreneur Dan Kennedy has dished out no-nonsense advice, bases on his own experience, to achieve business and sales success. He regularly get “millionaire-maker” results for satisfied clients in hundreds of professions and industries. His bestselling books include How to Make Millions with Your Ideas.
These proven-effective productivity strategies address reality—the information-overload world of cell phones, PDAs, faxes, e-mails, and need-it-yesterday business demands. This hard-hitting guide boils it all down to 10 time management techniques worth using.
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Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!
by Tony Robbins
Master motivator, Anthony Robbins brings back to life what lies dormant in most human beings — the power of self.
Not at all a “get rich quick” scheme, Robbin’s work instructs the reader on how to effectively manipulate and utilize one’s natural talents.
By following the steps outlined by Robbins, the reader is empowered to increase the quality and enjoyment of his or her life.
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The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
by Tim Ferriss
What do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this
controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer:- “I race motorcycles in Europe.”
- “I ski in the Andes.”
- “I scuba dive in Panama.”
- “I dance tango in Buenos Aires.”
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Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom
by Robert Kiyosaki
The Cashflow Quadrant is the follow-up guide to finding the financial fast track that best works for you. It reveals the strategies necessary for moving beyond just job security to greater financial security by generating wealth from four selective financial quadrants.
A reader comments:
Great book for putting your money management habits in perspective. Helps to show you the right and wrong things you’re doing that can be uplifting or devistating to your personal finances. It is a great book for those ready to make a change. Great book to help people crossover from the poor and middle class “quadrants” to being a business owner and a savvy investor. -
Think and Grow Rich!
by Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Hill’s classic book — the all-time bestseller in the personal success field — offers a life-altering experience.It teaches thousands of people the practical steps to high achievement and financial independence every year. This new edition is the first to contain extensive footnotes, endnotes, appendices, and an index.
Now more than a motivational work, it is also a reference book and a mini-history book providing valuable information about Hill, his times, and his success philosophy.
TGR’s greatest value is not only that it can make you financially successful. It can help YOU — or ANYONE — get whatever it is that you desire from life.
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Goals! How to Get Everything You Want–Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible
by Brian Tracy
Based on more than 20 years of experience and 40 years of research, this book presents a practical, proven strategy for creating and meeting goals that has been used by more than 1 million people to achieve extraordinary things in life. Author Brian Tracy explains the seven key elements of goal setting and the 12 steps necessary to set and accomplish goals of any size.Using simple language and real-life examples, Tracy shows how to do the crucial work of determining one’s strengths, values, and true goals. He explains how to build the self-esteem and confidence necessary for achievement; how to overpower every problem or obstacle; how to overcome difficulties; how to respond to challenges; and how to continue moving forward no matter what happens. The book’s “Mental Fitness” program of character development shows readers how to become the kind of person on the inside who can achieve any goal on the outside.
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The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
by Chris Anderson
In THE LONG TAIL, business journalist Chris Anderson examines the revolution in the online world, identifying key trends that affect the way people sell and shop. THE LONG TAIL is an expansion and a rethinking of Anderson’s widely circulated 2004 Wired magazine article in which he highlighted the importance of niche markets in the new economy; his ideas are grounded in economics, mathematics, distribution curves, and marketing.Using graphs, Anderson illustrates the phrase “the long tail,” which refers to products that, in the old economy, did not sell in large quantities, and thus did not merit space on the very limited shelves of brick-and-mortar stores; the blockbusters, or “hits,” which made profits and were restocked, fall into the “short head” of the graph. Anderson explains how and why, using virtual inventories, e-commerce sites can exploit the “long tail,” by recognizing niches–small pockets of high interest–since, as he says in his subtitle, selling less of more things can be profitable.
Anderson shows this to be true by means of examples drawn from the fast-evolving music and entertainment sectors.||Essential to all of this are more sophisticated search engines–including Google–and “aggregators,” companies that assemble and organize information about products so that companies can sell further down the long tail. Anderson also sees a trend toward the greater use of filters and recommendations, including sites, such as Daily Candy, that do nothing but advise shoppers about what to buy. Anderson shows how enormous profits are being made by companies such as eBay, Netflix, Rhapsody, and others whose virtual inventories offer a selection of products many times greater than brick-and-mortar stores–independent videos, for example, versus Hollywood blockbusters. In THE LONG TAIL, it all comes down to “hits” and “niches.”
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Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul: Advice and Inspiration on Fulfilling Dreams
by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield
Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s Soul is a compilation of short stories from entrepreneurs, both large and small, who share their experiences of success, failure and courage, with a little helpful advice mixed in.
Many of these stories, told for the first time here, will enlighten you to new methods of entrepreneurship or simply help you believe in the possibilities of getting started. People such as Doris Christopher, a stay-at-home mother, introduced her love of cooking to others, thus founding The Pampered Chef; sticking to his instincts and putting value at the core of his business, Tom Chappell, founder of Tom’s of Maine, explains how success can go way beyond the balance sheet; and Carol Gardner intimately shares a desperate time of debt and divorce, until along came a bulldog named Zelda, followed by a greeting card line — Zelda Wisdom — which became one of Hallmark’s number-one sellers. These entrepreneurs and many more will inspire you with their amazing life experiences and fascinating beginnings.
He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the “deferred-life plan” and instead mastered the new currencies—time and mobility—to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.
Have you read any or all of them? What did you think? Do you have other suggestions? Please feel free to comment below.
I also really like The E-Myth series by Michael E. Gerber since many of us get into business for the wrong reasons.
Hi Rosalind,
I appreciate the list. I have many of those in my library as well. I thought I’d mention a book that I just finished reading that you might really enjoy. It’s called The Perfection of Marketing by James Connor. It’s a quick, easy read and the information is just brilliant. It’s written in a story format, but the ideaology is distilled to perfection. I think this book has an evergreen place on the entrepreneur’s bookshelf. Have a great Christmas!
A great list of resources Ros, to which I’d like to add three of my favorites:
1) Ready, Fire, Aim! by Michael Masterson;
2) Impact by Ken McArthur; and
3) Winning Through Intimidation by Robert Ringer, now available again, updated and retitled ‘To Be or Not To Be Intimidated?’
Each of those three had a profound effect on me personally and on my business endeavors, and should be available once people follow your link above to Amazon.
As we head into the new decade, the timing has never been better for people to follow your lead and read these powerful publications – assuming they’ve already read your Super Affiliate Handbook, of course! Otherwise, it’s even easier to say which one they should read first… 🙂
What a great list! Glad to see a few of my faves right here in black in white. 😉 THANKS for sharing.
As a busy “entrepreneur” (with a full time job and a family), it seems that the only time I have for books is in my car…
How about a list of “10 Essential AUDIO-Books for Entrepreneurs”? 🙂
Dee.
Hi Rosalind,
A great list!
I’d add Jay Abraham’s Getting Everything You Can and Dan Kennedy’s How To Make Millions With Your Ideas.
Oh, and happy belated birthday! 🙂
@PurpleRoseCashware I hear you about audiobooks. That’s how I get my essential reading in too!
Here’s a list of my favorites so far:
* The 25 Sales Strategies That Will Boost Your Sales Today by Stephan Schiffman
* The 4-hour Work Week, Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
* The E Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
* E Myth Mastery by Michael Gerber
* How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
You can download them instantly and get a 25% discount at emediaxpress.com. Use the code “25offnow” at checkout. Enjoy!
Thank you Valerie! I will definitely check it out!
Dee.
10 entrepreneur books are awesome!!
Nice list Ros,
How about this classic…How to Win Friends and Influence People? It is amazing how many people and clients I give this to and they are like “Err, why do I want to influence people?” Once they have read it they see it’s not about that!
Also the change in them as a person is amazing. A little like when people read Cashflow quadrant for the first time….there is a “ah haaaa” moment.
Have you read it?
Happy Christmas
Matt
Good List Ros, but I agree with Lara, the E Myth series is a must read for budding and experienced entrepreneurs. I was turned on to them by an accountant I had for my spice company many years ago, and never miss anything Gerber writes since then. Or Rosalind Gardner for that manner.
The 4-Hour Workweek is EASILY a top 10 read. This guy stimulates areas of thought that you didn’t realize existed. The dots that will connect when you take in the content will have you reading this again sooner or later.
Thanks Ros for feeding the hungry.
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Ros }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} <— hugs
Hi Rosalind
Great book list. I have a read a few of them already. Looks like I will be adding a few more to my library. You can never have enough books in your library.
Unstoppable By: Cynthia Kersey is another great book. A great inspiring book for any entrepreneur.
Recommend a business documentary film I like a lot ” The YES Movie”
it told differenct stories of the young successful authors, inventors, executives, retailers, film makers…
http://www.TheYESmovie.com(by Louis Lautman)
Hi Ros
Thank you for the excellent list of books. Some of them I have read others not but have added them to my wish list and will be getting them in the future.
Michelle Jayes
Hi Ros,
Happy belated birthday! I’m not that far behind you so I hope I will look as good as you do at my 50th!
Great List. Just wanted to let you know that Tim Ferriss (#5 on your list – The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich) has a newly “Expanded And Updated” just released (Dec.15/09 according to Chapters.ca) edition out with “over 100 new pages of cutting-edge content”.
It’s on my Christmas wish list! If it does not appear under the tree on the 25th, I’ll be ordering it online for myself the 26th!
Keep up the great work & Happy Holidays!
Fellow Canadian,
Shelley
Great list – I’ve heard of some of these before. Interestingly it seems to cover most aspects of running your own successful business – apart from *how* to manage your finances. I’m not talking about how to get rich – but how to actually book keep in the world of IM – which is different to the world of tangible assets and products.
Anyone able to recommend a book to cover that? A Google search has come up fruitless…
Good question Clare.
I don’t know of any books available on the topic. My experience was to ‘educate’ my accountant for the first year about how my business worked. Now they have a full understanding of it and have helped me for the last 10 years.
Other than that, I can only recommend using Quickbooks if you want to save some accounting fees. (I have the multi-currency version).
Hope that helps a little.
Cheers,
Ros
Hi,
Thanks for the great list. Will make certain to include these titles on my to read list.
Hi,
i am doing MBA Finance and I was looking for some guidance regarding my course Entrepreneurship , Specially which wll tell the basics of it. I hope these books will guide me for my course and project.
Great list of MUST READS for the entrepreneur!
Please let me add, regarding the “Chicken Soup” series of books, those are absolutely wonderful gift ideas for anyone who ever finds themselves stuck on what to get someone.
My daughter, as a teen, wasn’t a reader, she didn’t have the patience to read a book. We were going on a long trip and I decided to buy her “Chicken Soup for a Teenage Soul”. When I handed her the book, I got the “rolling eyes” with the “this is so going to suck” look on her face.
I am very pleased to tell her that not only did she start reading more, but her outlook on life changed. I never went back and read that copy, but it often moved her to tears.
Jack Canfield is also one of the speakers in the movie “The Secret”, which if you have somehow missed it – Make sure that while you’re picking up one of the above titles, that you add “THE SECRET” to your cart – or if you weren’t planning to a book – then make sure you click on one of those links up there and buy a copy of “The Secret” for someone you love, or someone that you can’t stand – it’s the best investment you can make in anyone (IMHO)
BTW, If you have a loved one who is incarcerated, there is also “Chicken Soup for the Prisoners Soul”. There’s not a soul that “Chicken Soup” books aren’t made for!
Hi Ros,
I love book lists so thank you very much.
I have to add a book or two by Seth Godin. My favorites are “All Marketers Are Liars” and “Purple Cow” These books really help me understand marketing and I think this is the core of building a business. Seth writes about telling stories to attract your customers to you.
Thank you very much.
Julia
Think and Grow Rich is a classic that everyone should read at least once.
Thanks for bringing up Brian Tracy, his work is really enlightening.