These are the must-read books for aspiring young entrepreneurs and the “Retired at 25″ set. Some are classics, some you’ve probably already read, and some I hope are new to you. Each is inspirational in its own way.
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad
I have a special place in my heart for Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad. It was one of the first non-fiction books I read that wasn’t for school. I was 18 or 19 years old at the time, but was in the middle of my first true entrepreneurial experience, running a painting company as a branch manager for College Works Painting. This is a book about financial intelligence, and how the school system and conventional wisdom don’t teach what it takes to get ahead. Employees, Kiyosaki argues, are fighting a losing battle because they only trade time for money. The relationship is linear; to earn more you have to work more. Business owners and investors on the other hand, leverage their time and money to reap exponential returns. Rich Dad Poor Dad is easy to understand and rings so true. I found myself saying “Yes!” and nodding along at nearly every page.
Key Takeaway: How to accumulate assets to achieve the holy grail of financial freedom: multiple streams of passive income.
The Next Level: Everything I’ve read in the Rich Dad series has been worthwhile.
2. The Art of The Start
Every great company starts with an idea, and Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start is written to help you turn that idea into a viable business. Kawasaki cut his teeth in the Macintosh division in the early days of Apples, and now runs his own venture capital company in Silicon Valley. Successful entrepreneurs, he argues, require humility and modesty mixed in with their revolutionary “curve-jumping, paradigm-shifting, patent-pending” ideas. It’s a book about how young entrepreneurs can change the world once they learn a little more about the game they’re playing.
Key Takeaway: To be great, you need to make meaning.
The Next Level: You might like Kawasaki’s Rules for Revolutionaries.
3. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Author Robert Cialdini packs weeks of sales training into Influence, and it’s all backed up by his research as a professor of psychology. This is probably the most concise and important book on how marketers and salespeople can influence customers. It’s filled with great stories and and is packed with useful and sometimes surprising information. Every entrepreneur can learn something from Dr. Cialdini.
Key Takeaway: How to sell.
The Next Level: Try Why We Buy and Getting to Yes.
4. The 4-Hour Workweek
Something we can all aspire to! Timothy Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek has been a runaway bestseller because of the promises it makes on the cover: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. The claims are certainly audacious and probably unrealistic for most, but Ferriss shows that with a little effort, a dramatic change in your lifestyle is possible. The writing style is very direct and some of the suggestions won’t work for everyone. But at the very least, you will learn some effective tips to free up a few extra hours every week, including limiting email access, outsourcing, and intentional ignorance, which should definitely improve your quality of life. If nothing else, it will get your brain turning.
Key Takeaway: Time is our most valuable non-renewable resource. Protect yours dearly.
The Next Level: The Other 8 Hours is a good follow-up read on how to better spend your time.
5. The E-Myth Revisited
Do you run your business or does your business run you? That is the key question in Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited. Many entrepreneurs fall victim to the self-employment trap, where they fool themselves into thinking they’ve got it made just because they’re their own boss. The problem is if you spend all your time working on the day-to-day grind of the business, you’re not an entrepreneur, just a glorified employee. Instead of working in the traditional sense, your job as the boss is to build systems that allow employees to do the work for you. Before hiring my virtual assistant, I was guilty of the same sins as many of the business owners featured in the book. It’s not easy to remove yourself from the system, but the rewards make it very worthwhile.
Key Takeaway: Take control by letting go.
The Next Level: For quick ideas on managing your people and your business, you can’t beat Kenneth Blanchard’s The One Minute Manager and The One Minute Entrepreneur.
6. Capitalism at the Crossroads
On the average, earthlings are better off today than at any point in our history. But on the extremes, more than a billion of us still live in dire poverty. Stuart Hart’s Capitalism at the Crossroads is a book about how businesses can improve the lives of those people and make money at the same time. The basic premise is that charities and non-profits on the whole have done a pretty crappy job at creating lasting change for the world’s poor, and that the often maligned “profit motive” can and must be used to serve the “bottom billion.” It’s an interesting read and a reminder that businesses don’t have to exploit the environment and developing nations to make money. Indeed, those that can solve some of our challenging ecological and humanitarian problems over the next 50 years stand to truly cash in.
Key Takeaway: Between 1 and 4 billion potential customers are being ignored by most of today’s companies.
The Next Level: If you want change the world, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid and The Go-Giver should probably be on your bookshelf.
Don’t have time to read these and all the other great business books out there? Why not give Executive Book Summaries a try. They give you the Cliffs Notes version of all the classics and latest books on productivity, sales, marketing, entrepreneurship, and more.
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Tags: business, inspiration, marketing, reading, selling, time management
