If you currently run a business and you do not constantly read, I wonder how you plan to grow.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at 9 must-read books for every entrepreneur.
Related: 6 Digital Tools to Set Up in Your Online Business in 2023
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to products I truly recommend. This means I may earn a commission should you choose to make a purchase using my link. It’s okay, I know you’ll love them too.
Reading is pretty important if you want to see your business grow.
As a business owner, you need to read books that will reveal to you marketing secrets that others have used.
You’ll need to get advice on business strategies from virtuoso business owners of old and new.
You’ll also need to develop the necessary skills you need to run a business, get ideas, and be motivated.
All of these things I mentioned can be gotten from books.
The truth about great business owners is that they read for education and not for entertainment and they are very selective about what they read.
Reading helps you to develop good memory and strategic thinking skills, both of which you need to run a business successfully.
I wrote a post on 5 skills to master if you want to go big this year, some of those skills included knowing how to convey your thoughts in words or speech.
When you read good books regularly, you’ll be able to express yourself with a good vocabulary both in words and in speech.
Someone once said that if you find it difficult to express yourself, it’s because you do not write and if you find it difficult to pronounce words properly, it’s because you do not read.
The more you read, the better your oral skills become.
Alright, now that the need to read has been established, let’s take a look at those 10 must-read books for every entrepreneur in 2023.
1. The School of Money
The School of money book was written by one of Nigeria’s most astute business leaders, motivational speakers, and pastor, Olumide Emmanuel.
Many people have said that the School of Money book is the book they read most after the Bible.
The School of Money book covers every aspect of an entrepreneur’s life.
What I mean is that it not only talks about business but also talks about an entrepreneur’s finances, personal development, and so on.
It’s a 100/100 book and I recommend it to anyone who’s ready to take the plunge into entrepreneurship and not look back.
You can get the book here
2. Hallelujah Diet
Hallelujah diet by George Malkmus has to be the best book on nutrition ever written.
It talks about how to eat living foods, as opposed to the Standard American Diet (SAD).
The Hallelujah diet comprises a wide range of fruits and vegetables that cure a lot of health conditions.
Listen, junk, fats, sugar, carbs, etc. all these foods have no benefit to the body, all they do is break down the body’s defenses.
The most striking part about the book is the part where it said infants should not be given formula, instead, exclusive breastfeeding (which is a natural meal) is the best.
God has given us what to eat, all the fruits and vegetables around us are great for consumption, but we do not consume them.
My diet has not been the same since I read the book.
3. The Secrets Trilogy
Rusell Brunson is a marketing guru who wrote what we call The Secrets Trilogy.
The secrets trilogy consists of Dotcom Secrets, Expert Secrets and Traffic Secrets.
Dotcom Secrets talks about how to create funnels in order to sell more products and services.
Expert Secrets really dug deep explaining how to turn knowledge, skills, and talents into a business.
Traffic secrets talks about how to get traffic to your business.
4. The Automatic Millionaire
One must-read book for every entrepreneur is AUtomatic Millionaire, by David Bach.
It tells the story of an average American couple who didn’t look anything like it but were millionaires.
A middle-aged middle manager and his wife who, unlike the average person didn’t have debts, lived in their own house and raised grown children who were following the same path.
Look, everyone knows that they ought to save and invest, yet, not everyone does.
If you think that you need a special kind of self-discipline to start managing your money, the automatic millionaire says otherwise.
Instead of battling the decision to transfer a few funds to your retirement savings or an investment plan, all you have to do is to automate it.
Your money will be able to work for you and work itself out automatically.
If you want to learn how to automate your finances, then get this book.
5. The Smart Money Tribe
The Smart Money is a part A and B book that is a must-read for every entrepreneur and was written by Nigeria’s very own Arese Ugwu.
The first part is the Smart Money Woman, a book that reveals to us the journey of an African woman toward financial freedom.
Zuri, the lead character in the story is an all-around baby girl who never hesitates to live a soft life.
But eventually, she couldn’t live that soft life anymore as she was in huge debt and had a threatening health condition.
The 5 million naira Birkin bags and trips to fancy restaurants to eat were finally getting to her.
Part B is the Smart Money Tribe, this part brings Zuri’s friends into the story, and talks about their love lives and their love-hate relationship with money.
6. The Science of Money
I always thought Brian Tracy was a personal development coach and all of that, but his views about money in this book are top-notch.
He spoke about how to increase your income and become wealthy by working hard on yourself, not in your job.
He said the amount of money you make is directly proportional to the amount of value you can give.
If you want to learn more about becoming wealthy, I suggest that you read this book.
7. Women and Leadership
This book by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala talks about the challenges of less than 10% of women in leadership positions around the world.
Some of the most powerful women in the world were interviewed and they had a lot to say.
The book explores gender bias and asks why there aren’t more women in leadership roles.
8. The Bezos Letters
You’d literally walk into an Amazon store and there’ll be no cashier or checkout, you just scan your app, walk in, take whatever you want, and leave and a debit will be sent to you.
That and more is what Amazon is working on in the nearest future according to Steve Anderson, the author.
The Bezos Letters tells us about the secrets of how Jeff Bezos has been able to transform Amazon to one of the most profitable organizations in the world.
9. Atomic Habits
This book is about making big changes in your life by taking small steps so that you can have a transformative effect on your life.
He talked about the Two Minute Rule, the Goldilocks Zone, generally about using the power of compounding effect of hundreds of small decisions.
Conclusion
The truth is, you cannot apply everything you read from a book at once.
You cannot even remember everything you read all the time.
But the magic is, when you read a book, something in that book gets embedded into your subconscious.
You begin to think differently and live differently.
And like they always say, your business can never grow more than the level you develop yourself.
So, if you want to grow your business this year, the above are books you must read.