6 Thoroughgoing Books Every Aspiring Entrepreneur Should Read
Looking for awesome books you can read to get insights on how to start and run a business? This article discusses six books you can read as an aspiring entrepreneur, and how they can change your life and business for the better.
But before that, why should you read a book as an entrepreneur? Let’s find out.
Why You Should Read Books as an Aspiring Entrepreneur
There is no one who attained greatness in the world without reading. The impact of books in your life is evident in everything you do – writing, speaking, mental gymnastics, leadership, organizational management, personal carriage and development, etc. Most aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to attain great heights begin by reading books.
And that’s because, in a book, you can learn invaluable secrets to running a business – things you wouldn’t learn in a business school. In just a few pages of a book, you can grab, in detail, someone’s research results of years. Imagine learning in twenty minutes what it took someone twenty years, twenty million and twenty failures to achieve.
Furthermore, as an entrepreneur, you can generate valuable business ideas from a book. It could be an idea you can implement in your current business and see great results, or an idea for an entirely new business. Books are repositories of amazing, practicable yet undiscovered business ideas.
Ultimately, as an entrepreneur, you need a sharp, imaginative mind to function effectively in the den of entrepreneurship – a place where you’d be used, devoured, and discarded if you fail to innovate for even a minute. Reading books prepares your mind to always connect the past and the present and make insightful predictions of what the future might hold. This is evident in the statement of Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, during his press conference to announce that Nokia was being acquired by Microsoft in 2013. He said, “We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost.”
The moment you stop being imaginative, you begin to stagnate, and the moment that happens, failure is the next destination. However, that can’t happen if you’re a reader. So, that brings us to the best books you can read as an aspiring entrepreneur.
Top 6 Books Every Aspiring Entrepreneur Should Read
These books have the potential to change your perspective on business and life in general, as well as provide insights into how to turn that idea into a global venture:
1. Start With Why by Simon Sinek
You can begin your entrepreneurial journey with this book by Simon Sinek. This is a thought-provoking book that seeks to enlighten your mind about the most important question you should ask yourself before starting a business, implementing an idea, or doing just about anything else.
Asking “why” about every thought, idea, or trick that comes to mind is an excellent way to discover the answer. It forces you to find a reason for every action you’re taking.
According to Simon, the most successful people or businesses are those who understand why they exist.
2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
According to Brian Tracy, successful people are simply those with successful habits. Your habits are what determine your results, and this is what Stephen Covey is pointing out in his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
In this book, Stephen Covey explains why you should build certain habits and how they can help you stay effective and productive. The first three habits in this book aim to develop your mind toward achieving just about anything. Covey believes that great men are built first in their minds before the world sees the manifestation in their actions. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you can’t start a business if you don’t have a mind powerful enough to imagine how it will turn out.
The 4th, 5th, and 6th habits are focused on your interactions with people, which is a vital skill if you’re going to succeed in business. And the 7th habit focuses on the fact that you need to stay updated to stay relevant. It teaches you to keep improving yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If you want to know how to manage a business effectively as an entrepreneur, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a must-read.
3. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Though it’s been around since the 20th century, the lessons in Think and Grow Rich are evergreen. Napoleon Hill spent twenty years of his life researching and interviewing over 500 self-made millionaires. It was the insights he got from interviewing the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Charles Schwab, and Thomas Edison that led him to put together this powerful piece of information.
In the book, Napoleon Hill explains how powerful the subconscious mind of a man is and how, if utilized, it can drive one to achieve unimaginable things. No entrepreneur would be successful if they couldn’t use the power of their subconscious mind to take their business from just an idea to a global brand.
This is a book you should read if you desire to grow beyond where you are now. It implants in you the mindset that anything is achievable.
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4. The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
As an aspiring entrepreneur, you might not have all the resources you need to get started. You might not even have that jaw-dropping idea that lights up the faces of everyone who hears about it. However, if you’re passionate about building a business, you can achieve it.
Chris Guillebeau seeks to show you how to turn your skills and passion into successful businesses. He tells the stories of founders who refused to be discouraged by the lack of funds to start their businesses.
This is one of the best books for aspiring business owners. It shows you how to successfully develop a successful business model.
5. Like a Virgin by Richard Branson
What better man to learn entrepreneurship from than the man who has started more than a hundred companies? Richard Branson is a business magnate with decades of experience in running the Virgin Group, which has over 40 companies under it.
There’s no better way to pick the brains of a business genius like Richard Branson than to read his book. In his book, “Like a Virgin,” Richard Branson reveals useful business secrets you’d never learn within the four walls of an elite business school. Without restriction, he poured everything he knows about starting and running a business into this book. So, of course, if you want to go into entrepreneurship on the backs of people who have swum the tides and come out victorious, this book is a must-read.
6. Zero to One by Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is a German-American entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal, sold it, and invested the proceeds in Facebook.
The book Zero to One is where he poured out his experiences starting and running PayPal. You would learn more about what it’s like to run a company like PayPal. You’d also understand what Peter means by building businesses that grow from zero to one rather than one to n.
Peter considers it self-defeating for an entrepreneur to attempt to replicate what already exists. He argued that rather than trying to compete in a market that is already crowded, every entrepreneur should try to identify and seize new markets. Unless the person is certain to create something that is ten times better than what is already in use.
Peter is an entrepreneur who has sound knowledge of business investment. As an aspiring entrepreneur who would want investments in his business, you should consider that Peter (who has experience in both entrepreneurship and business investment) is in a great position to guide you. That’s to show how powerful the book “Zero to One” would be to you.
Which Book Are You Starting With?
All the books listed in this article are great reads for every aspiring entrepreneur. What makes them even more special is that they’re not books by mere writers. They are books from people who have walked the talk of entrepreneurship. As a result, you’ll not only get inspiration and motivation for starting your own business, but you’ll also get a guide on how to navigate and succeed in the world of entrepreneurship.
Picking any of these books and applying the lessons in them should help you become the problem solver you aspire to be.
