30 Must-Read Books for Every Entrepreneur
What are the must-read best books for entrepreneurs? What books should you read as an entrepreneur? Here we recommend the 30 best books for entrepreneurs.
An entrepreneur is generally defined as “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise or business venture and takes substantial responsibility for the inherent risks and outcomes”. The word comes from the French entrepreneur, which means “to undertake”.
This designation is most often used for someone who is willing to take on a new business venture, project, or enterprise, create value by providing a product or service, and take full responsibility for the outcome.
And what books should you read to be a successful entrepreneur?
What Best Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read in 2023
What Book Should I Read as an Entrepreneur? Hey, so today I’m going to be taking a look at the best entrepreneur books of all time.
That is essential for entrepreneurs and business owners if you’re trying to make more money.
I think these best entrepreneur books for beginners can really help you in your life by influencing you and really positively affecting your life and making more money for you just from these books so I personally try to read at least one business book per week.
But obviously, there are going to be times when you just can’t there are things that come up in your life where you can’t read as much as you would like to so let’s talk about these 30 different best books for young entrepreneurs.
30 Must-Read Best Books for Every Entrepreneur in 2023
The author believes that the most suitable business management book for entrepreneurs to read is the 30 Must-Read Best Books for Every Entrepreneur in 2023.
At various stages of enterprise development, entrepreneurs or company leaders will always encounter various difficulties, which are usually not effectively solved by delegation.
Taking a step back, even if it is authorization, requires entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs to have high comprehensive management literacy, so as to be able to listen to each other, effectively authorize, and make the enterprise always move towards the established goals.
I love reading the best entrepreneur books, it’s one of the fastest ways to level up an entrepreneur.
I read at least two entrepreneur books a month in order to run my business better and make more informed decisions.
But there’s a catch: there are hundreds of excellent must-read books for every entrepreneur for students that come out every year, and you can’t possibly read them all.
So how do you make sure you make the most of your time and choose high-quality best entrepreneurship books that have a positive impact on you and your business?
Out of the hundreds of books for entrepreneurs, I’ve read during my entrepreneurial journey, the following 30 stand out to help entrepreneurs through all stages of their careers.
Don’t be fooled by their year of publication, these top entrepreneur books have stood the test of time and the lessons they offer are still relevant today, just as they were when they were originally published.
If you aspire to join the ranks of successful entrepreneurs, reading is an invaluable skill.
Best books for aspiring entrepreneurs can guide us into new ways of thinking, help us through tough times in our careers, and teach us how to be successful businessmen and women.
If you’re an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur, here are the 30 best books on entrepreneurship in 2023 for your future reference.
Related Topics: Business-and-Investing-Books
1. THE ENTREPRENEUR MIND
Best Entrepreneur Books: The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs by Kevin D. Johnson
To achieve unimaginable business success and financial wealth — to reach the upper echelons of entrepreneurs, where you’ll find Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sara Blakely of Spanx, Mark Pincus of Zynga, Kevin Plank of Under Armour, and many others — you have to change the way you think.
In other words, you must develop the Entrepreneur Mind, a way of thinking that comes from learning the vital lessons of the best entrepreneurs.
In a praiseworthy effort to distill some of the most important lessons of entrepreneurship, Kevin D. Johnson, president of multimillion-dollar company Johnson Media Inc. and a serial entrepreneur for several years, shares the essential beliefs, characteristics, and habits of elite entrepreneurs.
Through the conviction of his own personal experiences, which include a life-changing visit to Harvard Business School, and the compelling stories of modern-day business tycoons, Johnson transforms an oftentimes complex topic into a lucid and accessible one.
In this riveting book written for new and veteran entrepreneurs, Johnson identifies one hundred key lessons that every entrepreneur must learn in seven areas: Strategy, Education, People, Finance, Marketing and Sales, Leadership, and Motivation.
Lessons include how to think big, who makes the best business partners, what captivates investors when to abandon a business idea, where to avoid opening a business bank account, and why too much formal education can hinder your entrepreneurial growth.
Smart and insightful, The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs is the ultimate primer on how to think like an entrepreneur.
2. The $100 Startup
Best Entrepreneur Books: The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau
I read this relatively easy book “The $100 Startup” today, and I used the method I learned from yesterday’s reading, I quickly understood the theme and concept of this book with the second-level inspection reading.
This is the best book for young entrepreneurs about how small entrepreneurs discover ideas, find projects, and promote and sell their products in the market through commercialization. The author tells readers through his own experience and the successful experience of some small entrepreneurs that in the current era of the network economy, every corner of our lives exudes the breath of innovation and business.
Each of us can benefit from products that solve other people’s problems and expand the potential consumer base through a networked approach, supplemented by the necessary commercialization.
Regarding credibility, I think this kind of small business model is completely achievable in the Internet age. The Internet economy makes our perspective no longer limited to the market we can see around us. Every idea that seems to have little use in Products can be found among the hundreds of millions of individuals behind the Internet who are in desperate need of it.
At the same time, I also fully agree with the author’s view that as a small entrepreneur, you can’t just build your product to satisfy other people’s preferences. A small entrepreneur’s initial motivation must be accidental or a hobby. The premise is that you are happy to be yourself, and then consider whether you can get benefits through commercial operation. This is a very typical feature of small entrepreneurs.
A small entrepreneur can’t afford the debt consequences of failing a huge investment, so he doesn’t need to invest too much money on the first try, more investment in time and effort.
For this type of entrepreneur, focus on the areas you love and find intersections in the areas that others need and are willing to pay for so that you can do what you love while creating value for others and creating benefits for yourself, The pursuit of freedom is another characteristic of small entrepreneurs.
For me: I don’t have a very good product idea yet, and I didn’t think about where my hobbies intersect with other areas that other people are willing to pay for before reading this book, so it takes a lot of thought. The point that the author emphasizes very much is to do it by hand.
I doubt my reputation for execution, but I am a person who “believes and dares to go”. When my current knowledge level and scope of vision are not enough, learning is the most productive way to accumulate productivity for the future.
3. Who Moved My Cheese?
Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
I think that my father was willing to spend money to buy an inspirational book for me to be good and study hard every day.
I have forgotten how I felt after watching it at the time, but judging from what I know about the past me now, I guess I must have woken up at that time with a punch and a long song, crying and shouting, “I have found the direction of my life! “Stupid and fooled, I almost burst into tears.
I was really busy today and my teeth were itchy, so I took it out again to see how evil this book was. After turning a few pages, I didn’t want to read it, and the writing was so boring (I don’t know if it was a translation problem). Four mice with very different personalities stayed on the good road and had to find a maze to crawl into to find cheese.
This is an inspirational story of quick success, eager to tell me how to “correctly” face changes, and in the face of life, it deprives me of the joy of exploring life. It brings the bloody truth to an inexperienced child prematurely: without cheese, you’ll starve in a maze, and no one will save you.
After reading this story, the child seems to have understood some truths that seem to run through life, and nods solemnly like an adult, keeping it in mind at all times.
Children are sophisticated, they are not afraid of changes, they are not afraid of danger, and they understand the truth better than adults. I understand life too early and understand the truth, but I don’t know what reason to look forward to these concepts of growing up, the future, and life for children.
Some people may say that this is a society with fierce competition and race against time, and some people may say that “people should hurry up to live”, but if you only know those big truths, what’s the use of those insights?
When you are exhausted every day searching for all kinds of inspirational bestsellers with words like inspiration, truth, and experience, you miss many things that are worth seeing, listening to, and experiencing. I am such a victim. I am sophisticated, but I am not literate.
I am a full man, and I have the life insights of all the wise men in the world. I am an empty person, I have never had my own sense of life.
The world is not good, everyone is anxious and eager to succeed quickly. But I think: people should quickly experience life, rather than quickly understand the true meaning of life.
4. Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Most people lack proper financial education. A life of financial freedom is worth pursuing, but not by taking a salary. Occupation is not important, what is important is continuous learning in the occupation, acquiring knowledge of accounting, investment, marketing, law, etc., using wages as the original capital accumulation, and gaining freedom through long-term efforts. The best entrepreneur books of all time that change lives.
I bought this book about 10 years ago. But it seems to have only turned a few pages and did not look down. So, I rummaged through the box and found the book to read. I can’t stop watching it, I finished it in three days.
This book is like “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, which further educated me:
- buying things to spend is increasing debt.
- You should increase your source of income.
- The smaller the percentage of wage income in total income, the better.
- Budget and control the use of your money.
- To find investment opportunities, let money beget money.
For a person who has never understood money, it is a revolution of thought. Since I was a child, my father taught me to study hard. Only by reading can I leave the countryside, and there is no need to bask in the sun. Then went to university. I told myself to stay in the city. I stayed in the city and found a unit.
I said to myself, we must improve the level of business. Business improves and then loses direction. In terms of seniority, there is still a little salary, and I can’t afford a house and a car. And the wealth seems to be increasing. No one ever told me what investing was.
After reading this book, I bought several more. There was Buffett’s, Peter Lynch’s, Rogers’… The world before me suddenly changed. I even feel that I have lived a bit of a wrongful life in the past so many years. But it’s not too late.
5. Zero to One
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
We often put all our energy into competition in order to defeat our opponents, for credits when we go to school, and for promotion when we work. You can’t generate excess returns, and if you can’t win quickly, it will bring endless depletion of value. Our value is not to beat the opponent at all.
If we focus on defeating the opponent, then where is the time to think of better ideas to develop? Therefore, if you can’t defeat your opponent, you should join forces with your opponent. If you foresee fierce competition, then turn away, be independent, and build a world of monopoly.
The world is not completely fair, the world has secrets. If you fantasize about getting the most value out of hard work, you’re not trying hard enough. Hard work without any consideration is not effort, real effort is trying to discover the secrets of the world and achieve your goals.
The excerpts are as follows:
- Boldness is better than mediocre and conservative
- A bad plan is better than no plan
- It is difficult to obtain excess profits in a competitive market, and a monopoly is possible
- Marketing is as important
as product. The purpose of a business is not to beat all Your opponents, if you’re focused on beating your opponent, you won’t have time to think of better ideas to develop.
In fact, most people in modern society should have heard of it: progress without a plan is called “evolution”. Darwin wrote that life “evolves” on its own, even if it is not prepared. Every life is just the result of some random mutation of some organism, and the best version wins in the end.
We often think that competition is the essence of business, and even in order to defeat our opponents, we focus all our energy on competition, but if we cannot win the competition quickly, it will only lead to the consumption of value, not the creation of value. If you can’t beat your opponent, you will join forces. For example, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk created Paypal.
Only look for the best, because the best generates more value. The world is disproportionate.
6. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
In any case, the easiest person to change is yourself. Learning good habits is the beginning of success.
When everyone grows up, most of them will experience the process from dependence to independence, from independence to mutual dependence. Learning different behaviors can change the gate of destiny.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People tells us what to do and how to do it. The seven habits are:
[Habit 1: Be proactive]
Only when a person is responsible for himself can he be responsible for others; only when a person has his own principles and values can he be respected by others. Believe in yourself, go all out to do things, be passionate and energetic, and you will infect those around you. Everyone chooses to create their own life, which is also the most basic decision for everyone.
[Habit 2: Persistence]
Sometimes, the hardest thing for people is to stick to their original dreams.
[Habit 3: Important things first]
The most precious thing in the world is time. Time management skills determine your success or failure. What must be done on your own, what must be delegated to others, what must be thought out in advance, and what must not be considered? The better you are at judging and dealing with it decisively, the more efficient you will be and the more obvious your value will be.
[Habit 4: Win-win thinking]
Get rid of the military mentality of life and death, establish extensive cooperative relations, and use competition and cooperation to build a good ecological environment. The ancients said that to suffer is to take advantage.
[Habit 5: Know each other and know yourself]
Sincere communication of the mind can enhance understanding and friendship. Doing things is being human.
[Habit 6: Be Eclectic]
Bring together the wisdom of everyone, and use it for your own use. To achieve a lofty goal is often not achieved by oneself. Those who make good use of the strength of the team are the real smart people
[Habit 7: All-round development]
Life is so important, so don’t take it too seriously.
7. Start With Why
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Read the best entrepreneur books for beginners relatively quickly, and I agree with the author’s point of view. I was conscious of this point of view before, but it was still relatively vague. After reading this book, I felt that I really had to figure out why I did my job first.
Try to sublimate this reason to the height of belief, implement it into the work, and always use it as the reason and reason for the work. Do not deviate from, not be interfered with by other factors such as interests, and stick to this work belief to work.
The author has always written this book around the point of “why”, citing many examples, and all of them are based on well-known companies in the world — Microsoft, Apple, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Honda, Toyota, Harley-Davidson, etc. justify his point of view.
Of course, I believe his point of view. However, it is still doubtful whether this method has a significant effect on practical work. Especially for consumers, it is hard to believe that they really understand the concepts and corporate culture of Starbucks, Apple, and other companies before buying their products.
Theories always have applicable conditions and are established under certain conditions. All in all, the views advocated in this book are very good. Two masons are doing the same job, one is bored at work every day, and the other is passionate about it.
The former is that he can’t figure out what the job is for, and he can’t find the reason and belief that he doesn’t want to find a job, which leads him to build a house mechanically every day and do repetitive and tiring work.
And the latter has a beautiful dream in his heart, knows why he built a house and has a belief in his heart — I am building a beautiful cathedral.
Talking about this book, I thought it was very wordy at first, just watch TED. After careful study, I found that the author has covered the essence of it.
Repeating does not mean that it must be wordy, but the author wants to tell it in different aspects. You, the mighty power of “why”. What makes you truly believe in this concept is worth a lifetime of practice.
Whether you believe it or not, anyway, I believed.
8. The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Best Entrepreneur Books: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
The author is Ben Horowitz, founding partner of A16Z, the most ferocious VC in Silicon Valley in recent years.
The whole book is very sincere. The author does not brag about how good the company he manages and how satisfied the employees are.
On the contrary, I spent a lot of space on how I dealt with crises (often caused by wrong decisions or changes in the market environment) in the process of starting a business. There are a lot of details and methodological thinking.
In fact, the author is indeed very qualified, in the 8 years since he started and eventually sold Loudcloud (Opsware) to HP for $1.65 billion, his company has lived through the era of the dot-com bust, a few months ago.
It can still raise tens of millions of dollars to less than a penny. The company is only tens or even days away from bankruptcy several times. The stock price fell from the highest of 6 dollars to 0.35 dollars and finally rose back to 14 dollars.
If a CEO is a profession, then this book should be a job description. There is no space for the halo of entrepreneurs here.
Almost all the various problems that a CEO may face and how to solve them accompany a company from its establishment to its final stage (listing, selling, bankruptcy) and how to solve it, especially from the bottom of my heart. Dissect what a CEO thinks, thinks, and recommends for action.
9. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
If you just want to hear people emphasize the importance of “diligence”, then reading this book is better than going to middle school and listening to the brainwashing by the teachers who lead the senior year. The new thing that Angela Duckworth brought is that she broke the grit and told you not only what is effective, but also what is infinite.
She said that grit not only requires intensive passion but also commitment, which requires you to stick to a goal for a long time instead of changing goals frequently. Some people have a lot of unrelated parallel goals that eat away at your time and energy.
She also said that it’s not enough that you have long-term goals, you also need to translate long-term goals into medium-term goals, and then translate mid-term goals into short-term goals.
This allows goals to guide your life. Some people only have long-term goals and no translation actions. This is just positive fantasizing. In the long run, they will inevitably live in disappointment because they fail to achieve their goals.
After you have a goal, the most important thing is to deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is generally carried out like this.
- A clearly defined stretch goal.
- Full concentration and effort.
- Immediate and informative feedback.
- Repetition with reflection and refinement.
I think this concept of deliberate practice is very important and is the most common mistake Chinese people make. When I was studying, I saw many classmates working hard, but no matter how hard they tried, their grades would never improve.
I think the main reason is that they only achieved effort and repetition, but lacked defined goals, did not pay attention to feedback, and did not have refinement.
Going back to myself, after working for so many years, I can’t say that I don’t have to work hard or not, but I really lack reflection and refinement. Such experience, according to Angela, is to repeat one year’s experience for ten years without progress.
Deliberate practice is not easy. Angela recommends developing the habit of training at regular locations and turning deliberate practice into an automatic action without requiring you to motivate yourself every time.
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