Book Recommendations & BizNotes for Small Business
Book Recommendations & BizNotes for Small Business
Books and BizNotes (summary highlights of books) to help you start, run and grow your small business. You can find numerous “top business books” lists, and those are great, but this is not necessarily one of them. The books listed here are ones we have actually read and believe are an essential part of any business owner’s library.
We also include the top recommendations from our podcast guests. At the end of most interview episodes of The How of Business podcast, host Henry Lopez will ask the guest for a book recommendation. We regularly compile these recommendations to determine the top recommended books.
[We may receive commissions for purchases made through these links (more info).]
Top 10 Recommended Books
These are the top-10 most recommended books by The How of Business podcast guests, for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
| Top 10 Recommended Books | |
|---|---|
  #1 - The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber |   #2 - Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill |
  #3 - Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman. Gino Wickman was a guest on episode 339 of the podcast. |   #4 - How to win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie |
  #5Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek. ** BizNotes - download summary highlights of this book: Start with Why BizNotes |   #6 - The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller |
  #7 - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey |   #8 - Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow. John Warrillow was a guest on episode 349 of the podcast. |
  #9 - Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins |   #10 - Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) by Verne Harnish |
Recommended Books by Category:
These are the books recommended by Henry Lopez, host of The How of Business Podcast, for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
| Starting & Running Your Small Business | |
|---|---|
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber |   Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business by Anthony Tjan, Richard Harrington, Tsun-Yan Hsieh |
  Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh |   Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki |
  Customers for Life: How to Turn That One-Time Buyer Into a Lifetime Customer by Carl Sewell |   The Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business by Steven D. Strauss |
  Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing: No-Nonsense Rules from the Ultimate Contrarian and Small Business Guru by George Cloutier | Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek |
  Who by Geoff Smart & Randy Street |   The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesse by Eric Ries |
| Branding & Marketing Your Small Business | |
|---|---|
  The Best of Guerrilla Marketing: Guerrilla Marketing Remix by Jay Conrad Levinson |   Why Johnny Can't Brand: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Big Idea by Bill Schley |
  Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy |   Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin |
  Free Prize Inside: How to Make a Purple Cow by Seth Godin |   Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness by Jeffrey Gitomer |
  Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It) by William Poundstone. ** BizNotes - download summary highlights of this book: Priceless BizNotes |   Fascinate, Revised and Updated: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist by Sally Hogshead |
  Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath, Dan Heath |   The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcom Gladwell |
  Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug | |
| Creativity for Small Business Owners | |
|---|---|
  Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon |   The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield |
BizNotes:
The How of Business BizNotes provide summary highlights of books for small business owners. BizNotes include our highlights of what we think is most important or valuable in a book we have read, and they are no more than two or three printed pages in length. We also include relevant and applicable examples of how we might apply the knowledge to the realities of our small business environments. These are not reviews or complete summaries of a book, but rather our perspectives on the key points we believe are relevant to entrepreneurs and small business owners like ourselves.
There are hundreds of great books (and new books published every day) that contain valuable information and knowledge for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The challenge is finding the time to read them all, and then to process and apply the lessons learned. We are avid readers of books, and we have read hundreds of books over the years that have helped us tremendously in our personal lives and with how we build, manage and grow our small businesses. When we read a book, we often highlight key passages and make notes of what we think are the relevant points. This method for reading books also helps with our personal retention of the information. We hope you will find value in these BizNotes, and that they serve as another resource for your continued learning and growth.
Available BizNotes: