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5 Must Read Books for Entrepreneurs

Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by Andrew Dumont in Random Musings

I can’t emphasize enough, how important experience is to success in business. But as you’ll realize, as an early staged entrepreneur, those types of situations are hard to come by. That’s where books come into play. It’s amazing how much you can learn and grow from a single read. What I’ve lacked in age over the past few years, I’ve been able to make up for in real-world experiences and lessons taught in books.

That being said, I wanted to throw up a post of my top 5 favorites (in no particular order). Give them a read, and enjoy the new perspectives you’ll gain.

1) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – As an entrepreneur, you’ve got to stay on top of the ever-changing landscape that is your customer base. You’ve got to understand what makes them tick, what makes your product appealing to them and most importantly how to tip them, in your favor. The Tipping Point does just that, by providing a groundbreaking analysis of how trends are sparked and take hold. The book is a national bestseller and will drastically change your perception on how to market, brand and position a business; along with much more.

2) Good to Great by Jim Collins – This book provides an analytical look into to why most businesses fail and so very few succeed, to the status of great. It’s one of those great statistical books, that uses a huge chunk of data and in depth studies to make their argument, rather than opinions of the author, which is a refreshing change.

3) Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk - Becoming a successful entrepreneur has a lot to do with the intangibles. The intangibles like hustle, drive and as Gary puts it, the willingness to Crush It. The book focuses on taking your passion (whatever it may be) and cashing in on it. It’s one of those reads you can’t put down, one of those reads that lights a match under your… um, “bum” and gets you fired up by ensuring that your dream can in fact become a reality.

4) The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss - We became entrepreneurs for a reason, because we want to be our own boss, because we want to change the world and most importantly, because we want to work from a beach, with a piña colada in one hand and our MacBook Air in the other. But the problem is, many of us are inefficient. We try to do everything ourselves and end up burning out. That’s where The 4-Hour Workweek comes into play. The book lays out, set by step, what needs to be done to take your 70-hour workweek down to 4, all while maintaining the same or possibly larger income. It’s one of those amazing books you read over and over again, studying each piece to the puzzle.

5) Tribes by Seth Godin - Leadership, is one of the most complex pieces of business you’ll encounter, if you haven’t already. There are so many variables involved in creating a cohesive team and leading that team efficiently. The book summed it up nicely by saying, “Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. This scarcity makes leadership valuable.” Not only does Tribes provide a great insight into leadership, but it also explores the science of using established tribes to create social and word of mouth movements.

This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the amazing books out there for entrepreneurs. The important part is to understand the value of consuming this type of content. So, go out and read these books, and if you’ve got any additional must-reads, please add them to the comment section below.

Happy readings! Oh, and by the way, I heard Snuggies now come with a spring loaded reading light… might not be a bad idea to pick one of those up, either. ; )