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Ten Best Books For Entrepreneurs

Businessmen are continuously learning. They have the mindset of not knowing much, thus the need to learn more things. A way to address this learning endeavor is to read and read. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you need to be always curious and search for answers. Not everything will be laid out so you have to do your part in seeking the answers to your questions.

Reading can bring you to places you have never been to. It can as well teach you lessons your teachers or mentors have not taught you yet. It can also give you fresh ideas and inspirations that you can get from as it can provide you with new sets of perspectives from various authors. Reading does not entail or require above average skill or high IQ so you will understand the words in the books or articles or whatever media you have for reading. 

Planning a business requires you more research and that means more reading on various materials that can guide you to make the right decisions. Here is a list of the best entrepreneur books for 2020 for aspiring entrepreneurs like you. 


1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Be one of the countless people who climb up the ladder of success with the help of Dale Carnegie’s best-selling book. How to Win Friends and Influence teaches you with all the dos and don’ts of social life. It offers techniques on how to handle people. It enumerates six ways to make people like you. It also presents approaches to be a better entrepreneur with 12 ways to win people over to your way of thinking. In addition, it also cites nine methods on how to change people without giving offense or arousing resentment. These will teach you the etiquette of overcoming competition and winning over close-minded people.

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2. The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy

Business is the innovation and creation of something. It does not only stop there because you also have to sell your products and services. A good sales technique is an important factor for a good business. Brian Tracy has published the book The Psychology of Selling. It provides methods and strategies for entrepreneurs to sell faster and easier. According to Tracy, “The only real creators of wealth in our society are businesses.” He also listed seven key result areas that can do “an extraordinary difference in income.” Be the next salesperson to earn the first million in your chosen business venture. 
 

3. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

Business competition is exponentially increasing. Making your own brand and spreading your message across your target market has been a challenge to most of the entrepreneurs. If you are one of these businessmen who is in the dilemma of making your business stand out from the crowd, Donald Miller has laid out seven universal story points that can lead the customer to purchase your products or avail the services you offer. The book has three sections, each addressing different areas in marketing messaging and reshaping your brand to attract more customers. Taken from the book, Miller said, “The fact is, pretty websites don’t sell things. Words sell things.”


4. How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by John C. Maxwell

Have the right mindset. Look for opportunities to learn. John C.  Maxwell expressed through his book, How Successful People Think, that everyone has an equal chance of learning to think creatively as far as knowing the right techniques is concerned. In his book, he provided eleven specific ways of thinking that can lead you to live a better, happier and more successful life. He also emphasized in this book the importance of considering thinking as a discipline: the more you work at developing these skills, the better at them you’ll be. Among the things you learn after reading this book is the importance of empathy and its role in achieving the success you want. Look for the bigger picture. 
 

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5. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

“Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your once chance for success is to be remarkable.” Many businesses are taking marketing for granted. More and more entrepreneurs are viewing creative advertising as less effective. Seth Godin wrote down general concepts of marketing programs with corresponding examples. Borrowing his words, you must “be different and exciting, generate an idea and be remembered.” These are his shared secrets to successful marketing strategies. The book provides a ten-point checklist on how to create a remarkable product. It might be time for you to rethink your marketing ways and do the necessary changes. 

6. The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoofman and Ben Casnocha

LinkedIn cofounder and chairman Reid Hoofman and author Ben Casnocha revealed how to step up on your career. Both disclosed that you can still be the entrepreneur that you want to become while still working or reporting to someone else. This book guides you to think like an entrepreneur at all times. Inclusive of other details available in this book are the three steps that should be taken to expand your skillset and strategies in the world of business. One of which is you should adapt your career plans as you, the people and the industries change. Another suggestion is to nurture your networks and relationship. The last but not the least is to take intelligent risks. 


7. The $100 Startup by Chris Gillebeau

The initial investment is a prerequisite before starting any business. Fret not if you think you don’t have enough funds to start your venture. Stop with the negative talk and take off the negative vibes. Chris Gillebeau talked about 50 of the most amazing stories of businesses that started with only bucks. It is always inspiring to read stories of businessmen who began with a little amount of money but had worked their way up to the ladder of success and now are earning so much more. The $100 Startup will give you the motivation and extra push to do the things that you want to pursue. Start the business now. 

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8. Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

This book by Ray Dalio is a compilation of his unconventional principles that have become handy in his life.  These principles have helped him achieve success both in life and in business he enjoys now.  One takeaway from this book is “To be principled means to consistently operate with principles that can be clearly explained.” This book also includes Dalio’s five-step process. The author believed that through his principles, any person or organization can achieve their goals. This book will not teach you about investment matters but rather, this will enlighten you, as an entrepreneur or manager, on how his principles can help in building an organization or a team focused on excellence.


9. The Execution Factor: The One Skill That Drives Success by Kim Perell

Kim Perell is a highly successful startup entrepreneur, executive, and investor. She gave a fresh breath of air in approaching success. She shared the five traits that people, who know how to effectively accomplish their dreams and achieve their goals, have in common. These traits of execution are vision, passion, action, resilience, and relationships. According to Perell, success does not come from having a great idea, an advanced degree or a high IQ. The ability to execute is the difference between success and failure. The business has also to be laid out, through a business plan, properly to ensure success. 


10. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink

While timing is everything, it is difficult to distinguish when the right time is. From planning to execution, decisions must be carefully made. Pink revealed in this book that timing is a science and that it is based on the results of the researches from psychology, biology, and economics. The time you do your decisions can affect its results and your ability to be effective and productive. To learn the science behind timing, then Pink’s book can be your friend. 

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11. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller

One major takeaway from this is book is the importance of focus. Eliminate distractions that may cause a hindrance from reaching the success you’ve been aiming and achieving the results you’ve been projecting. This book reinforces the idea that multitasking is a myth and that balance doesn’t exist. In this book, Gary Keller expounded the 80/20 principle. It simply states that the 20% of our actions produces 80% of the results. This book highlights the importance of focusing on the things that matter. Included in this book as well are success habit to overcome the six lies that block our success, beat the seven thieves that steal time, and leverage the laws of purpose, priority, and productivity.


12. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

"Mind is the single most powerful asset we all have."

This book is about Robert Kiyosaki, the author himself. The rich dad is his best friend’s father, while the poor dad is his biological father. He shares how these two men had shaped his thoughts on money and investing. This book highlights the importance of financial literacy, financial independence, and building wealth through investing in assets, real estates, owning businesses. It provides six lessons which tackle different areas about finances. The author has distinguished some differences between the rich, the poor and the middle class. For example, rich people acquire assets while poor and middle class acquire liabilities that they think are assets. To learn more about financial aptitude and how the rich class make money work for them, this book is the safest choice to have.


13. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

This book is a universally recognized personal development masterpiece. This book revolves on the idea of success that can be attained through mental visualization and imagination. One lesson to take from this book is the importance in defining your life goals. It contains fifteen chapters with different topics each. Thirteen of which where steps toward riches and the other one was how to outwit the six ghosts of fear. Yes, this book listed the six basic fears, which are fear of (1) poverty, (2) criticism, (3) ill health, (4) loss of love of someone, (5) old age, and (6) death. The aforementioned fears are the possible reasons why people procrastinate. Because according to Hill, most often than not, people delay on doing things because they are afraid. You may read in this book on how to deal with these fears and get yourself focus on your goal in life.

There are more best books for startup entrepreneurs at your nearest bookstores which are not mentioned in this article. These books can help you envision the path in business that you will soon take. There is no specific formula for achieving success. Different authors provided different ways and advice. It is up to you on having the right mindset and making the right decisions. 

For business ideas, Franchise Market has a list of ventures you might want to try. You can start your business aspirations through franchising since it doesn’t require much investment and processes compared to a business that is from scratch. Franchising is one of the safest risks you can take as the processes to operate the business have already been tested and proven effective.  The Philippines has been continually growing in terms of its economic performance and it has been considered as the new hub of franchises in Asia. Thus, the right time to take action for your business aspirations is now.

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