“What book should I read?”
There’s a reason entrepreneurs ask each other this. That’s because the best books aren’t just good reads — they’re a comprehensive guide to building, growing, and tackling your biggest challenges. So what should you read? Many books are slammed to us entrepreneur, and wanted to highlight a few from the past year that have jumped off the page. The following books can help you overcome adversity, make more money, build a stronger business, and uncover the overlooked benefits of…?
Read on, and then read on!
Build for tomorrowby Jason Feifer
The perfect book for: Anyone facing a major change in their career.
About the book: The most successful people have failed. And failed. And failed. And yet they keep going – reinventing themselves, adapting to change, and turning adversity into opportunity. How do you do that? That’s what entrepreneur Editor-in-Chief Jason Feifer wanted to know, so he spent years studying the brightest and most successful entrepreneurs.
In this book, he puts their lessons into action, offering a concrete plan for those struggling with change and giving readers a competitive edge. You’ll learn how to think more optimistically, expand your skillset, treat failure as data, and most importantly, how to let go of yesterday and build for tomorrow.
Buy here.
Stopby Annie Duke
The perfect book for: Anyone feeling stuck.
About the book: Quitting has a bad reputation, writes former poker player and accomplished decision-maker Annie Duke. In this book, she presents quitting quite differently—not as a sign of failure, but as an important decision-making strategy that can free us from potentially dead-end projects. “When you’re near the top of Everest and the weather changes, you want to turn back,” she writes. “The same goes for your major, your job, your career, a relationship, piano lessons, or even something as small as watching a movie.”
in the StopDuke makes a compelling argument for the virtues of quitting, and then helps us make one of the toughest decisions we could ever make.
Buy here.
The Cold Start Problem, by Andrew Chen
The perfect book for: A founder who wants to grow big.
About the book: Many people talk about “network effects,” but Andrew Chen noticed a problem: very few people really understand what they are or how they can help a company. He is General Partner of high profile Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and wanted to solve this problem with his book.
A network effect, he writes, is when a company becomes more valuable as more people use it. (Tinder and Airbnb are good examples: they’re not very useful if there aren’t many people there.) So how can a founder quickly create a network effect—and what can anyone, in any industry, learn about building a community of enthusiasts? User? His book is a guide to this, in opposite directions: to build a large audience, he says, you have to start with a purposefully small one.
Buy here.
Miss Independentby Nicole Lapin
The perfect book for: Hard workers who want to become real earners.
About the book: If you want to make real money, you don’t just have to have a job. You invest. That’s the message from best-selling financial expert Nicole Lapin, whose book Miss Independent offers a 12-step plan for anyone who wants to start investing and think more seriously about building wealth.
Don’t get that stuff? This is what Lapin specializes in. She explains life’s most complicated financial decisions, like getting a mortgage or owning investment property, and also provides a guide to investment vehicles like stocks, bonds, REITs, and crypto. “You will never be young again,” she writes, “and it’s never too late to empower your independence.”
Buy here.
The best of No BSby Dan S Kennedy
The perfect book for: The marketer who wants to increase sales.
About the book: Serial entrepreneur Dan S. Kennedy loves great sales and marketing—and at everything else he calls BS. His long-running series No BS has been telling the business head-on for years, and now he’s compiled the best advice in one place.
This anthology covers everything from how to best spend your marketing dollars, how to turn passive content into active conversion tools, how to master the art of direct marketing, and even devotes a chapter to tearing up a very real magazine ad… and then the explanation (very detailed!) how to do it better.
Buy here.
keywordsby Vanessa Van Edwards
The perfect book for: Introverts who want to stand out.
About the book: Humans speak an unspoken language. It happens in our posture, our gestures, and the small signals we send and receive—often without even thinking about it. So what would happen if you learned to read these signals better and then communicate with them more consciously? That’s what Vanessa Van Edwards, who describes herself as a “regaining clumsy person,” teaches here in a book that helps introverts and ambiverts connect with others and communicate more persuasively.
For example, we all use “comfort gestures” — small gestures that distract us from uncomfortable situations but also make us seem less charismatic. Van Edwards lists them, then offers “cut-down tactics” that give our jittery bodies something better to do.
Buy here.
The Power of Conflict, by Jon Taffer
The perfect book for: Someone who struggles to get what they want.
About the book: Jon Taffer has a reputation for roaring. He often does this on his TV show bar rescue, where he unleashes on misguided restaurant owners and their ungrateful employees. But in his new book, Taffer explains that not all conflicts are created equal.
Most people use conflict emotionally, which he says is counterproductive. But when used respectfully and purposefully, conflict can be a powerful personal and business tool. in the The power of conflictTaffer offers a guide to embracing and using conflict well—lessons that are equally useful for conflict avoiders and braggarts who don’t know any better.
Buy here.