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4 Incredible Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

If you’re not in the habit of reading on a regular basis, get started with our short list and experience the difference it makes in your business mindset.

Photo: Parker Davis, CEO of Answer 1; Source: Courtesy Photo
Photo: Parker Davis, CEO of Answer 1; Source: Courtesy Photo

As an entrepreneur, you may feel like you don’t have time to read. This, however, is a mistake that will quickly put you behind your competition. The most successful entrepreneurs are voracious readers. Bill Gates reads more than 50 books a year. Warren Buffet spends 80% of his day reading, and Mark Cuban reads 3 hours a day.

If you want to take your business to the next level, you have to tap into all the knowledge available to you. Reading offers you inspiration, develops your skills, and gets your creative juices flowing.

The benefits are clear! If you’re not in the habit of reading on a regular basis, get started with our short list and experience the difference it makes in your business mindset.

 

Virtual Freedom

by Chris Ducker

When starting your entrepreneurship journey, you are the receptionist, copywriter, HR, CEO, and finance manager. Playing all these roles in your business is exhausting. The good news is that it’s easier than ever to outsource these tasks. In this book, virtual CEO and guru Chris Ducker outlines how outsourcing can work for you, within your budget. This book helps you realize you don’t have to do it alone simply because you’re a smaller business.

Grab this book if you are tired of doing all the work by yourself. You will learn to outsource receptionist services, bookkeeping, social media marketing and much more. Ducker promises a virtual staff will help you “buy more time, become more productive, and build your dream business.” That’s a win for any entrepreneur!

Some of the questions you will have to answer as you read the book are: What tasks do you dislike most in your day-to-day? What tasks are you genuinely bad at? Answering these questions will make it easier to determine exactly where you should focus outsourcing efforts.

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

by Dale Carnegie

Written by Dale Carnegie, the salesman turned public speaker, this book is a classic. First released in 1936, it has sold millions of copies. However, time has proven that the lessons within are eternal.

Networking is an essential skill for entrepreneurs. If you don’t have solid people skills, you’re not going to succeed. You need to be able to convert leads to sales.

This book not only tells you about how to build better relationships with customers, but also with your employees. Carnegie outlines six ways to meet people like you, nine ways to change people without being resented, and 12 ways to win people to your way of thinking.

 

Photo: Kari Shea, Unsplash
Photo: Kari Shea, YFS Magazine

Learn how to offer good customer service, grow your network, and keep employees motivated. If that doesn’t make you want to read this book, you should know that this is one of Warren Buffet’s all-time favorites. Buffet says he has used what he picked up from the book since his early twenties, and that has contributed to his success.

 

Built to Last

by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras

This book was written after six years of research carried out at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. The research looked at 18 great and long-lasting companies, comparing them to one of their top competitors.

The book follows the journeys of those businesses from the start-up level, mid-size level to the time they were large corporations. If you are looking to learn what makes some of the big corporations successful so that you can apply that to your business, this is the book you should get a hold of.

The common best practices great companies follow in marketing, recruitment, and financing are detailed in this book. As a business owner, you can mirror their best traits while avoiding their mistakes.

 

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

by Phil Knight

Any entrepreneur would love to grow their business into a reputable worldwide brand. Doing so takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. If you want to know exactly what that process looks like, read this book by Phil Knight. Knight is the co-founder and previous CEO of Nike Inc. This book details the company’s history, starting with the small beginnings of Nike when Knight borrowed $50 to start it, all the way to its current status as a billion dollar company.

If you are looking for some inspiration, this book will get you motivated to do all you can to grow your business. You will learn how to negotiate deals while building and marketing your brand.

 

Reading is a great and easy way for you to build empathy, learn from others’ mistakes, and adapt your business for success. Take some time to invest in the future of your small business and read any of the titles above. You’ll be surprised at how it influences your everyday operations and overall vision.

 

Parker Davis is the CEO of Answer 1, a leader in the virtual receptionist and technology-enabled answering services industry. Since 2015, Parker has been responsible for Answer 1’s strategic vision, senior level management, and equity creation. He believes that the application of data analytics, investment in technology, and fostering a positive company culture together create highly efficient and scalable growth companies. He has an M.B.A from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame. Connect with @answer1 on Twitter.

 

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