10 Best Books To Grow Your Business

“Go to bed a little wiser than when you woke up.” – Charlie Munger

Nowadays, many people are living their lives on autopilot mode; doing so many things but not learning anything. And this same group of people often wonders how someone can be so successful in their life. How can someone be so lucky? However, when we look at the habits of successful individuals, one common thing that we find is that they are passionate readers. For example, every two weeks, Mark Zuckerberg reads one book; Oprah Winfrey reads one book every month; Bill Gates reads one book every week.
If you are an entrepreneur or a wannabe entrepreneur, you must be thinking that you know everything. Well, that can’t be true! Here we are not questioning your knowledge or abilities. But you need to understand that learning is a continuous process. No matter how successful you are in your field, you still have many things to learn. And one of the best ways to learn is by reading. We know what you might be thinking. Yes, we also learn from our experiences and mistakes but why to do everything by trial and error when we can learn from individuals who have succeeded against the odds, conquered big challenges, and have become successful.

If you search on the internet, you will find a lot of business books that can help you to become a successful entrepreneur, but choosing the best ones might be a tricky task. That is why we have come up with this blog where we will share a list of top 10 books that can help you grow your business. Before moving ahead, we also want to highlight that apart from the context on which these books have been written, there is one more thing that makes these books successful and that is their book cover designs. Yes, a good cover design can be the greatest driver of any book’s success. Now let’s take a look at the list!

1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

This is one of the highly-recommended books for those individuals and marketers who want to build their marketing skills. Although Dr. Robert published this book in 1984, it is still as significant today as it was then. In this book, the author has shared the psychology of individuals and what makes them act the way they do and which is an important insight when it comes to persuading someone to make a purchase. You will also get to learn the six principles of influence: social proof, reciprocity, liking, commitment and consistency, and scarcity, along with the three years programs of study on what shifts individuals change behavior.

2. Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

After decades of research, Carol S. Dweck, globally renowned Stanford University psychologists, found a simple yet breathtaking idea, and that is the power of mindset. In this book, she explains how in every area of human endeavor, success can be dramatically influenced by the way they think about their abilities and talents. Individuals with a fixed mindset are less likely to grow than people with a growth mindset. According to her, we need to accept the fact that we are not perfect, and we all are required to work to improve constantly. And it is possible till the time our mind tells us we really want to.

3. Start with Why by Simon Sinek

If you want to be a leader who can inspire a team but struggle to do so, then chances are you might be on the wrong path. Those who can inspire, give individuals a sense of purpose that has a little to do with any external advantages to be gained. Those who lead can create followers who act not because they were asked to, but because they were encouraged. This book of Simon describes what it means to start with WHY, and how it can create true and long-term success for individuals and their businesses. Although every business starts with Why, only the great ones stick to it. The book is full of examples that help readers in understanding the concept.

4. The Art of War by Sun TZU

Although this book was written around 500 B.C, it is still a classic book on military strategy that still holds a lot of importance – not only on the battlefield but in the business world too. The book is divided into 13 chapters where each chapter discovers a diverse side of warfare – thinking about fighting a war, actual execution of the strategy, and also the success that comes along with the effective execution of a plan. The book also teaches various lessons that can be beneficial for your business. For example, the author advises to keep plans secretive. If your enemies i.e. competitors get to know what you have planned, it will be easier for them to defeat you.

5. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

We live in the information loaded era, but despite that 80% of the businesses fail. Why? The E-myth is that individuals who start a business are entrepreneurs putting funds at a risk to make profits. But in reality, most people who start their businesses are good in one aspect of their job and thought to start their show. Having expertise in one aspect and starting a business where that expertise plays a small role may not make you run a business successfully. There is a lot more that is required in a business. This book dispels the myths about starting a business. He points out how expectations, common assumptions, and technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business. He also draws readers’ attention to the important yet overlooked difference between working in your business and working on your business.

6. High Output Management by Andrew Grover

Written in 1995, this book provides a detailed overview of a manager’s role and purpose. It focuses on a central theory that the main objective of managers is to increase the output of work of those under and around them. They should choose high-leverage activities that can have multiple effects on the overall output of their subordinates and peers. Here are some of the core topics that this book:

• Don’t undervalue the significance of the process. The foundation of successful companies builds on repeatable processes – from writing a blog, coding, to filling out the spreadsheets
• Don’t meet just for the sake of meeting. All your meetings should have some objective. Else, you will waste your time and money
• Don’t try to do everything yourself. Successful managers know to divide tasks efficiently
• Do not overlook the significance of performance review. Use it to improve performance by focusing on crucial things only
• Motivate employees by understanding their high-level needs.

This book is ideal for both novice and experienced managers.

7. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Before writing this book, the author had studied the lives of more than forty millionaires. Based on his findings, he came up with 13 key principles of success – desire, faith, decision, planning, imagination, autosuggestion, the subconscious mind, transmutation, brain, power, persistence, knowledge, and sixth sense. This book motivates people to think they are rich. The term rich can relate to any form of wealth, such as business success, money, happiness, healthy relationships, etc. In other words, the book is based on the principle that if we want to become rich, we first need to change our minds. This book also has one interesting fact, and i.e. 99% of the people have no goals in life and are stuck in jobs they don’t want. Though this book was written during the Great Depression, it would be interesting to see if this statics still holds true or not.

8. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Habits are very important to achieve something in life. Good habits give us the structure and disciple to be more productive and continue making progress in achieving major goals of life. Without good habits, it is easy to give up when things get rough in life. This book gives readers an incredible journey into why habits are a core of everything, how people can change them, and what impact habits can have on business and society.

9. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

Money is the foundation of every business. Without money, businesses cannot deliver solutions, spread messages, and gain financial freedom. Around 50% of the businesses fail in the first initial five years. Many continue to burn cash and accumulate debts. Many entrepreneurs start a business to do what they love to do and gain financial freedom, but they end up as slaves to their business. They may work hard, invest their life savings and chalk up debts to keep their business run, but in the end, they still fail to make profits. Profit First book is based on one simple principle, and that is, before paying expenses, take out your profit first. Run your business based on what you can afford now, not on what you can afford later.

10. The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz

The book starts by asking readers to imagine that they are in the pumpkin market. At the pumpkin spot, they see various pumpkins, not for the ‘sale’ kind but the kind surrounded by photographers and velvet ropes. Now they are asked to imagine that they have a pumpkin business; so big that the media takes notice, people come to do business with them, and books are written on them. Mike took the technique of rising world-record pumpkins and applied it to business concepts, and he does this in a masterly manner.

Conclusion

So folks, now that you have a list of top 10 business books, it’s time to choose your favorite (s) and start reading. Chances are the major problems you are facing or may face in the future, have already been dealt with by someone before. So take advantage of these books and take your entrepreneurial dream to the next level. Good Luck!