1. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
While most startups fail, a lot of those failures can be prevented. This book offers a new approach that changes the way companies are created and products are launched. Every startup has one thing in common, they want to get through uncertainty to find a path that leads to a sustainable business, but few accomplish this feat.
The approach offered in this book helps companies that are smart with their money and use human creativity wisely grow. The lessons presented enable companies to change their direction with their agility and make changes in their plans according to increase their chances of success.
The Lean Startup doesn't create elaborate business plans. Instead it offers entrepreneurs a way to continuously test their vision and adapt to their own needs before it’s too late. Reis lays out a scientific approach to creating prosperous startups in an age where companies have to be exceptionally innovative to survive.
Readers have found that this book is honest in addressing situations that are commonly faced by startups. The author's intellectual curiosity and his pursuit of excellence are clear in his writing. Anyone who is thinking about innovation or product development can benefit from reading this book.
2. Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod
In this book, Hugh MacLeod unveils his 40 keys to creativity that he came up with beginning as a young professional. He talks about his sharpest insights, offers clever cartoons, and provides useful advice.
For example, he focuses on the point that if you are starting up a new business, you can't follow in anyone else's footsteps. Existing business models are not effective. You need to be a thought leader and forge your own path. This unique path to success is what leads to entrepreneurial success.
This is a useful book to read, especially if you want to learn about establishing creativity. It offers quick tips and ideas for success that are also easy to understand. Macleod gives advice without adding unnecessary fluff. Yet his writing is also funny, realistic and relatable.
The key point of this book, to forge your own path, is simple. But this simplicity is both effective and more efficient than other books that go into too much detail, taking up your valuable time with minutia.
3. Rework by Jason Fried
Most business books provide readers with endless instructions on writing a business plan, looking closely at their competition, finding investors, etc. However, this book is different.
It describes why these topics are not helpful when it comes to creating a sustainable business. Instead, the author argues that what you need is a productive work ethic and exposure. Written in an inspiring way, this book debunks common business myths.
Jason Fried offers a straightforward book. The content that is easy to understand. You will find yourself nodding your head and going “that’s true” quite a bit while reading.
Rework is a worthwhile book for anyone who has dreams of making it on their own. Whether you are a die-hard entrepreneur to or an artist who doesn’t want to be starving and struggling anymore.
This optimistic book can inspire hope in future entrepreneurs. The author makes sure that the reader is grounded in the simplest, yet most effective, principles. The advice in this book applies to starting up a business,but can also be applied to creating a better life in general.
4. Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business by Chris Ducker
Entrepreneurs often think that in order to be successful, they have to do everything themselves. They try to make a successful business by running a one-man show. This is often why people don't pursue their business dreams- they find it too daunting to start.
In Virtual Freedom, outsourcing expert Chris Ducker explains how to get the help you need using affordable resources. Entrepreneurs don't have to do everything alone when they discover the power of creating a team of virtual employees to help launch their businesses.
Virtual Freedom is a step-by-step guide to build a business working with virtual employees. Drucker focuses on business growth and explains in detail everything you need to understand, from delegating jobs to managing virtual assistants. It provides the knowledge and tools that are needed to build the business you want with a virtual staff.
Understanding the principles of staff and many of his suggestions is the key to taking a single person side hustle and turning it in a viable business. This book is the authoritative guide to finding and managing a virtual staff. I have personally used it as a blueprint in hiring two virtual assistants and a part-time staff writer.
This is a great resource for people who have never considered doing this before. What makes this book unique is that it is great for beginners as well as people who already have a virtual staff. There are several tips that can be used, even after working with a virtual assistant.
5. Publish and Profit: A 5-Step System For Attracting Paying Coaching And Consulting Clients, Traffic And Leads, Product Sales, And Speaking Engagements by Mike Koenigs
It is tough to gain a competitive edge in this chaotic world.
In this book, Koenigs claims that what people need to succeed is a bestselling book. By writing a book, people can connect with their target audience and build credibility in their market. He points to the fact that books have been used in every industry for hundreds of years to make people and concepts well-known.
In Publish & Profit, Koenigs leads his readers through a step-by-step process that has helped his clients write a profitable book. His clients range from ordinary business owners to entrepreneurs and professionals on the upswing of success. If you follow the process laid out in this book, it can work for you, too.
This book is easy to read and provides information that can be used right away to help grow your business.
Though, public speaking and sales is not my area of expertise (and I do not desire them to be). I can attest to the fact, that having a bestselling book brings people to you in a way that few other things could. I have been approached with many speaking and sales offers I turn down.
6. The New Freedom: Ordinary People Are Living Extraordinary Lives & So Can You! by Rob Cubbon
Rob’s book is about doing something outside of the box for a career in order to obtain happiness in life. By being an entrepreneur, you can free yourself from the typical 9 to 5 schedule and work anywhere you want without boundaries.
The New Freedom aims to free people from employment. It teaches people how to make a new life online, create your own schedule and do work that is meaningful for you. It provides the reader with actionable strategies to make their life as a professional more enjoyable.
Rob details his in-depth interviews with recently successful entrepreneurs such as Justin Cooke from Empire Flippers, Shayna Oliveira, who teaches English as a second language online, and Nora Dunn from The Professional Hobo.
Readers will walk away from this book knowing what essential items they will need when working from home. They will have a new approach to living a happier life. And have a path to live a life with fewer complications.
Readers have found that this book is a gem when it comes to online entrepreneurship. Rob has a great way of telling people who are just getting started exactly what they need to hear in order to make them comfortable with their decision to work online.
He also gives them the motivation they need to get them started. Rob’s tone is sincere and down-to-earth, and his information and advice are believable, because they are honest and from the heart.
For full disclosure, Rob Cubbon has been an online friend of mine for quite a few years. He has always been honest and straight-forward and I believe that if I read this book and did not know him, my review would be exactly the same.
7. Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin
Are people are not born with an innate ability to do something great? According to Talent is Overrated, the answer to that question is a resounding, “NO!”
Rather, greatness comes from practice and perseverance that is perfected over decades. Additionally, the key is how you practice, analyze your progress, and learn from your mistakes that make you the most successful. In this way, the book reminds me of many of my ideas from my book on best learning practices.
Talent is Overrated includes many scientific and real-world examples. Colvin shows that when people use the right kind of effort, they can improve at anything. Colvin's mindset and practical advice are meant to change the reader's way of thinking about their job and career and inspire people to achieve more.
8. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
This book talks about knocking down the barriers to success that people may encounter. The War of Art pinpoints the internal enemy that people face and explains how to achieve success despite the naysayers and roadblocks. While this book was written for writers, many others have embraced its message, from business entrepreneurs to actors and dancers.
This book is a quick read and leaves people feeling inspired. Pressfield, one of my favorite fiction writers, writes his nonfiction with the same skill and intensity as his fiction books. The War of Art is full of actionable advice. It is practical and makes sense, no matter what area of your life you are trying to apply the information.
9. The Daily Entrepreneur: 33 Success Habits for Small Business Owners, Freelancers and Aspiring 9-to-5 Escape Artists by S.J. Scott and Rebecca Livermore
This is a great book for people who want to become a freelancer or are looking for a way to make some extra money. Most entrepreneurs hope to make enough money to make it on their own, but often that expectation is not met.
However, the problems that entrepreneurs face are common, meaning that a lot of people experience them. This also means that people have found ways to overcome them. Their secret is that they build specific daily habits.
In the book, the author talks about the power that developing habits can have and shows the reader how to use these habits to overcome common challenges. This book is unique from others because it is organized according to the challenges that everyone faces each day. There are 33 life-changing habits described in this book that will increase your ability to overcome obstacles and meet your goals.
Readers recommend this book to entrepreneurs who want to include effective methods in their schedules to get more out of each day that streamlines productivity. The ideas are supported by evidence and examples, allowing readers to relate to the material.
Full disclosure: This is a book that I co-wrote. I feel this book has some great information for readers, but I did not write the above review since I hate being overly self promotional. I clipped this from someone else review of my work and reprinted it here.
10. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz, a successful entrepreneur, offers critical advice in this book on running a start-up company. He includes practical wisdom to help manage common problems that business school doesn’t teach and gives real-world advice.
Horowitz analyzes the problems that leaders run into on a regular basis in this book and shares the knowledge that he has gotten from developing and running his own companies. He knows everything about owning and running a business from keeping a CEO mentality to knowing when it is time to shut down.
This book is engaging and entertaining as the author uses his favorite rap lyrics throughout to share his business lessons. He makes serious subjects such as firing friends into a more light-hearted and easy read.
Horowitz uses his humor and straight talk in this book that is invaluable for people who are just starting their own business as well as veteran entrepreneurs.
His humbling experiences can help people at any level. Readers have found this book to be refreshing because the concepts are not dumbed down. There is useful advice given throughout this book for building relationships and working with other people in many situations.
11. Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferriss
Tribe of Mentors is a compilation of ideas from some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs.
It is great for people who are questioning their path in life or are looking to start new or get a new sense of motivation. Some of the subjects that this book addresses include effective morning routines, the best purchases you can make that are less than $100, how to achieve a work-life balance, and how to sort through all of the information that you take in every day.
This book is not 100% about productivity and time management, but enough of the ideas of the experts in this book touch on these subjects to make it a valuable read for people wanting to become more productive.
Some readers dislike the format of this book. It doesn't have a flow or have an obvious sense of order, rather it is the responses he got from people he reached out to when asking these questions. This seems to make the book a bit choppy.
However, it is still full of useful information that can relate to a lot of people. While not every reader will be able to relate to every part of this book, there is something in this book for every reader.
Lots of interesting stuff in this book. Even the stuff unrelated to entrepreneurship and business is still fun and educational. Great lessons from the world’s most famous and most successful people, and certainly an book on entrepreneurship that every wannabe entrepreneur should mine for every deep thought Ferris shares.
12. The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: Why Now Is the Time to #JoinTheRide by Darren Hardy
In this book, Darren Hardy explores why most small businesses fail. He found that the reasons were different than any previously recorded reasons.
Failure was actually not caused by outside factors. Failure is actually internal. The unexpected emotional roller coaster that an entrepreneur goes through is the largest cause of entrepreneur failures.
This book will prepare anyone for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. It will give warnings and prepares future entrepreneurs to handle doubters and naysayers. It also prepares people for the pains of rejection and failure and provides a guide to move past the obstacles lead to the failure of 66% of new businesses.
After reading this book, you will know the best strategies that the author has collected from successful people, covering the four essential skills that are needed for success, which are recruiting, sales, leadership, and productivity.
This entrepreneur book is great for people who want to own their own business but are scared of the unknown. It is also great for people who are currently running their own business but want to be sure to stay successful, or even take it to the next level.
This book to be motivating and informational. A lot of the information in this book is not common things that one would come across while researching online, they are first-hand accounts of success and are as interesting and exciting to read as they are informational.