Over the past few years, I’ve read some great books however, these are the Top 5 that absolutely changed my life and taught me a number of things that I now apply in my business and personal life. If you’ve haven’t read them yet, add them on your must-read list right away!
1. How to win Friends and influence people
This is hands down my all time favorite book. Business is all about interacting with people both internally (employees) and externally (customers). In order to stand out from the competition, we need to master the art of communicating with people and understanding them psychologically. In Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people, you’ll learn how to deal with people by saying and doing the right things at the right time. You’ll learn how to persuade people to agree with you by simply appealing to their needs. This book has helped me build and maintain many great relationships by interacting with people in a simple way that makes them feel special, I can’t recommend it enough!
2. The Compound Effect
Do you have goals but you somehow never achieve them, like losing weight, writing a book, or just cleaning up your room? The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy is a fantastic book that can help you achieve any goal by simply breaking it down into small actionable tasks. For instance, if you want to run a marathon, don’t start by running one mile per day; simply run to the end of the street and back, and keep increasing the distance daily until you are comfortably running one mile per day. It is this book that gave me the courage to start this website by taking one simple step every week until I was ready to launch.
3. The E-Myth Revisited
Do you sometimes find yourself doing EVERYTHING in your business, working in all departments without any clear company structure or systems? In The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber explains why most small business owners work like this, and how this ultimately leads to their downfall. Without a clear company structure with good systems, your business cannot grow beyond a certain point. This book shows you step by step using an example of a small bakery, how to turn your business into a great franchise.
4. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
Whenever someone starts a business, they create a website and link it to their social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram) then what? They start posting content that nobody likes or engages with, thereby rendering their presence on social media useless. Jab, Jab, Right Hook helps you understand each social media platform and whether or not it’s right for your business. Gary Vaynerchuk does a great job of explaining what type of content works best on each of the platforms and uses real life examples of various companies. If you want to understand Social Media better, this is the perfect book to help you get started.
5. Essentialism
Alright, imagine that you’ve got two people with the same tasks for the day; one appears to be very busy, running up and down, making several phone calls while the other is calmly sat down typing away. At the end of the day, you discover that the “busy” person has done less work than his or her counterpart. Which person are you? Do you “work hard” on the non-essential things and accomplish less or do you “work smart” and get the essential things done? Greg McKeown’s Essentialism is all about the disciplined pursuit of less, learning to do what actually matters and saying no to activities that simply waste your time (even if they appear to be urgent or important)
So that’s my Top 5 list, honorable mentions go out to;
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy
Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger
Are these some of your favorite business books, and if not, which ones would you recommend? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
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