Best books on how to start a business

Starting a business is tough even if you have a tonne of experience in the field where you intend to own a business. Many small businesses use storage units to house their inventory as it’s often easier and more affordable to rent a storage unit rather than use a warehouse or your home.

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Founders at work

If you want to know if the life of an entrepreneur is for you then Founders at Work is a great book that you need to read when starting a business. Each chapter in the book is a different story from different start-up founders and it gives you their first-hand experiences of their ups and downs while starting a company.

Everyone’s experience will be different when starting a business so seeing the rollercoaster rides that often happen can give you some preparation for what it is like to start a business. A very good book that all potential business owners should read.

The book itself offers little structure or themes but it’s a compelling read.

The Lean Start-Up by Eric Ries

When starting a business the odds are stacked against you. Most start-ups will unfortunately fail but Eric Ries author of The Lean Start-Up explains that many of these failures are avoidable.

Eric explains the most important parts of launching a product or a service and the metrics you should be looking at to see if it is a success. There are many tips to be taken from this book so another highly recommended book if you are looking to start a business.

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right hook by Gary Vaynerchuk

In a world of social media, Gary Vaynerchuk’s Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is a book that explains why companies should be using social media to grow their business and how they should be using it to earn new business.

Gary explains that most companies just want to take and earn money, which to be a successful business is something that needs to happen, but social media doesn’t work that way. If you are a business that uses social media only to sell then you won’t build up a successful social media following and you won’t be using social media to your advantage.

While the steps in the book won’t give you enough to build your own social media strategy it will get you thinking about how you should approach marketing for your business via social media. If you haven’t heard about Gary Vaynerchuk then to demonstrate he knows what he is talking about he owns a multi-million dollar social media marketing company.

The $100 Startup by Chris Gillebeau

While the currency is in dollars it doesn’t matter as the ideas in this book can be used in any country. The book outlines the steps you should take when starting a business and gives different case studies of these processes. The examples in the book are unique and I don’t think they will work for all businesses but the majority will and the book is useful as a guide.

Never split the difference

At one point during your business, you will need to sell your product or your services and to do that effectively you will need to know how to sell. If you have come from a sales background then you may not need to read this book but if you don’t it is a great book.

Never split the difference by Chris Voss, who shows you the best ways to negotiate the sales process and he also gives some interesting real-life stories from his time at the FBI. A really interesting book that will improve your sales skills while keeping you entertained through each page.

Other good sales books that you may also want to consider are:

• How to win friends and influence people.
• Fanatical Prospecting.
• The Challenger Sale.
• Spin Selling.
• Predictable prospecting.

Final thoughts

There are millions of sales books out there that can help you on your journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur. These are a small list of books that have helped us during our journey. While your business is probably going to be different from ours, what we would recommend is learning where you are weak in your own business and learning the skills to improve.

If you are poor at marketing, read more marketing books, if you need a better understanding of general business then read more business books. If you need help doing your taxes then read more books on accounting. As you grow in your business you will eventually hire people to do the jobs you can’t but until then business books are a great way to learn new skills while still being affordable for a new business.