5 Books to Read Before You Start Your Small Business

Photography by Marion Doss

Before you jump into your new small business start-up, any small business owner should have a basic understanding of business and how to succeed. Here are five books to get you set for success at your small business.
1. Think and Grow Rich
Think and Grow Rich is the success self-help book that started all other success self-help books. You will learn what it takes to succeed at any goal you set yourself, though the focus is on business or working in the business world. Definitely read this book before you start your small business.
2. Strength Finder 2.0
Strength Finder 2.0 has been at the top of the New York Times best seller lists for a while now. It is a quick and easy read that comes with a test. The test tells you what your top 5 strengths are. That may seem like a big boast for a single test to accomplish, but the test was created after interviewing over half a million people and categorizing their strengths. It is a very accurate test as far as such things go.
Get this book and take the test. It will help you decide if your small business idea fits with your strengths. Playing to your strengths in this way greatly increases your chances of success in your business.
3. Great by Choice
Great by Choice by Jim Collins is a great book to read. Collins studied publicly held companies, rigorously comparing companies in the same industry and seeing why some of the companies were great and some were mediocre. His results are stunning, yet applicable to all businesses, big or small.
Read this book and take notes. Think about how you can take the concepts presented and apply them to your small business.
4. How to Win Friends and Influence People
Every business on the planet has needed the help of people to succeed. Even if you are just starting out and you are running your small business with yourself as the only employee, you will still need the help of friends, family members, business associates, bankers, accountants, and lawyers. All these people will help you succeed. If you learn how to get people’s help, you will succeed faster.
Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, provides a solid and actionable foundations for working with people.
5. Made In America
The last book I will recommend is a biography. All small business owners should read biographies. They will encourage you to keep working through the challenging times you experience when running your business. Biographies will also give you ideas straight from the brains of very successful people.
Made In America is Sam Walton’s autobiography. You may not agree with Walmart as a business, but it is still worth a read. If you can’t stand reading about Sam Walton’s remarkable life, find another entrepreneur to read about. Whoever you decide to learn more about, be sure to ask yourself how the ideas and stories presented in the biography will help you in your small business.
About the Author: Tomas Merrill helps entrepreneurs to start and run the small businesses they always dreamed of owning so they can fire their bosses and gain the freedom they deserve. Learn more about Tomas at SoloSmallBusiness.com.
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