People that want to be successful often look to those who have achieved great things and try to follow their example. If you look at some of the greatest minds and most successful entrepreneurs of today, you will often find one similarity: most of these people preach the benefits of reading and constant learning. They often say things like “investing in yourself is the best investment overall.” If you are interested in getting started on your own business path, then here are some great books to dig into.
The Mental Game of Poker
In the business world, there are numerous things outside your control. Anything can happen on a daily basis, and that’s why it’s important to keep a grip on the things you do have control over, namely yourself and your emotions. When your day isn’t going well, you can fall victim to the mental effect known as tilt and this can harm your business life.
To help keep your emotions in check, it is worth exploring the mental causes and effects of tilt. In the book The Mental Game of Poker, the author Jared Tendler helps you to understand tilt and how it can affect your entire life. In fact, Tendler draws from years of experience as a mental coach for athletes and certainly has actionable advice to share with you. Poker has often been compared to the business world, but this book has nothing to do with risk management or dollar cost averaging, just clear and concise advice to help you be a better leader.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
One of the most suggested and revered books for entrepreneurs isn’t really a business book at all, but one dedicated to helping you network and meet people. Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is a masterpiece that helps you understand connections and how to build lasting friendships. Of course, this has immense importance in the business world as you are constantly forming important connections with coworkers and clients.
While you may be expecting some fascinating manuscript filled with psychological tricks and sneaky tactics, the reality is different. It seems that most of the secrets involved in getting people to like you revolve around being nice and showing a genuine interest in someone. Imagine that.
Zero to One
Zero to One was written by Peter Thiel, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He was a co-founder of Paypal, as well as several other businesses. It’s safe to say he knows the inner workings and strategies behind a startup and that is what this book revolves around.
It is loaded with information to help you plan out your startup business. Interesting points made include the fact that Google and Facebook are only going to happen once and building “the next one” is counter productive. It’s better to work with these companies or strike your own path. Also competition is not good for your business, and striving to make your product stand out will be the best avenue to go down in most cases instead of competing on price and marketing.
The Effective Executive
To put it bluntly, The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker teaches you how to be a proper leader in the workplace. However, this is not a guide to controlling others, but controlling yourself. Everyone strives to be more efficient with their time and this, as well as task management and doing things in the proper order, are heavily covered here. The creator of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, once made his senior managers sit down and read this during a seminar, and it’s one of his most recommended reads.
The 4-Hour Workweek
While The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss may be dated by today’s standards, it is still a classic that is a worthwhile read. This is a book that started many young entrepreneurs on their path. Contained within is a lot of very useful advice on hiring remote employees and how to create a product that is one of a kind. This is more for the mentality of the entrepreneur, and is loaded with personal experiences and lessons.