10 Best Books for Entrepreneurs to Make Your Business Successful

Entrepreneurs and business owners can find inspiration and practical guidance in these popular business books.

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Looking for the best entrepreneur books?

Here's a collection of some of the best books on entrepreneurship, startups, leadership, and personal growth for anyone from seasoned entrepreneurs to those just starting out.

The greatest lessons we will learn will most likely be from our own experiences. However, we can also learn a lot from the advice and experiences of others, as long as we allow ourselves to be teachable.

I've narrowed down some of the best books every entrepreneur must read.

Top 10 Books for Entrepreneurs

Already started your business or looking for inspiration? Here's a collection of the top 10 best books for entrepreneurs.

These best entrepreneur books are for anyone from seasoned entrepreneurs to those just starting out.

1. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times.

Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, or earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.

Tim Ferris is a self-experimenter and bestselling author, best known for his Four-Hour series, which includes The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef. The Wall Street Journal calls him “a cross between Jack Welch and a Buddhist monk.”

This book is a new way of thinking about work and leisure. It's about freeing yourself from the traditional workplace so you can pursue your passions, whether they're professional or personal.

You don't have to wait until retirement to start living your dreams. With The 4-Hour Workweek as your guide, you can escape the 9-5 grind and live the life you've always wanted.

So what are you waiting for? Your dream life is waiting.

2. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable.  The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

The Lean Startup is a new way of looking at business. It is based on the idea of “iterative innovation.” This means that businesses should constantly be innovating, improving, and adapting their products and services to meet the ever-changing needs of their customers.

The Lean Startup method is based on the principle of “minimum viable product.” This means that businesses should focus on creating the simplest version of their product or service that will still meet the needs of their customers. This allows businesses to get their products or services to market quickly and provides them with feedback from customers that they can use to improve their products or services.

The Lean Startup approach has been used by some of the most successful companies in the world, including Google, Facebook, and Amazon. These companies have all used the Lean Startup approach to create new products and services that have revolutionized the way we live and work.

This book is a great introduction to the Lean Startup approach and how it can be used to create successful businesses.

3. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now-famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

Learn three fundamental techniques in handling people, the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.

4. The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime by MJ DeMarco

Is the financial plan of mediocrity — a dream-stealing, soul-sucking dogma known as “The Slowlane” your plan for creating wealth? Demand the Fastlane, an alternative road-to-wealth; one that actually ignites dreams and creates millionaires young, not old.

Change lanes and find your explosive wealth accelerator. Hit the Fastlane, crack the code to wealth, and find out how to live rich for a lifetime. This is one of my favorite books for entrepreneurs. 

5. The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau shows you how to lead of life of adventure, meaning, and purpose – and earn a good living. Chris identified 1,500 individuals who have built businesses earning $50,000 or more from a modest investment, and from that group, he's chosen to focus on the 50 most intriguing case studies.

In nearly all cases, people with no special skills discovered aspects of their personal passions that could be monetized and were able to restructure their lives in ways that gave them greater freedom and fulfillment. This is one of the best entrepreneur books to read to reinvent the way you make a living, do what you love and create a new future.

6. 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.

7. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk

Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. In Crush It! Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses.

Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed here, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand.

This is one of the best entrepreneur books as readers will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true by finishing the read. Step by step, Crush It! is the ultimate driver’s manual for modern business.

8. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel, Blake Masters

This book for entrepreneurs is a #1 NYT Best Seller. Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.

9. Think And Grow Rich Paperback by Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich is a 1937 personal development and self-help book by Napoleon Hill. The book was inspired by a suggestion from Scottish-American business magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

While its title implies that the book deals with how to attain monetary wealth, the author explains that the philosophy taught in the book can be used to help people succeed in all lines of work and to do or be almost anything they want. The book was first published during the Great Depression.

At the time of Hill's death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold more than 20 million copies and by 2011 over 70 million copies had been sold worldwide. It remains the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill's books. Business Week magazine's Best-Seller List ranked it the sixth best-selling paperback business book 70 years after it was published. Think and Grow Rich is listed in John C. Maxwell's A Lifetime “Must Read” Books List.

Think and Grow Rich
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10/04/2024 09:28 pm GMT

10. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has captivated readers for 25 years.

It has transformed the lives of Presidents and CEOs, educators and parents— in short, millions of people of all ages and occupations.

Best Entrepreneur Books Summary

If you needed a little inspiration to rev up your engines, or you could use some sound advice on how to be a better manager and grow your business then these business books can help.

Whatever type of entrepreneurship advice you need in life, reading one of these best entrepreneurs' books above can be the best method to get it.

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”
― Margaret Fuller

Check out our list of the Top 30 Must Read Personal Finance Books.

If you want to educate your children on personal finance on a budget, you should see how to get free books for kids. These can really help the next generation of readers reach their potential.

About the author

Brian Meiggs
Hi, I'm Brian Meiggs! A personal finance expert, entrepreneur, and the founder of My Millennial Guide. My drive is to help others unlock the wealth of freedom and pave the path to financial success. With my bachelor's degree in finance, I help millennials follow the smart money in order to increase their earning potential and start building wealth for the future. I write regularly about side hustles, investing, and general personal finance topics aimed to help anyone earn more, pay off debt, and reach financial freedom. I have been quoted in major publications including Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, NASDAQ, Discover, GoDaddy, BiggerPockets, Fox News, Debt.com, Quick Sprout, Money Geek, MSN Money and many more!

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