As business owners, we are eager to learn as much as we can to become better and more successful entrepreneurs.  I often get asked to recommend business books, so I thought I’d share my top 6.  Although I have an extensive library and there are certainly more great books than these 6, these are must-read for small business owners, in my opinion.   They’ve been very helpful as far as determining and setting up the operating systems in my business.  I’ve implemented their recommendations, and I refer to them quite often.  They each cover the main aspects of running a business, namely sales, fulfillment, finance, service, profitability, and scaling.

 

Here is my top six:

 

The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

by Michael Gerber

Written about 25 years ago and recently revised, The E-Myth or Entrepreneurial Myth is one of those classic books that every business owner should read. It addresses the trap many people fall into when starting a business, focusing mostly on the fulfillment and not enough on the business growth, which causes them to fail. It explains the need of understanding our role as business owners and the importance of delegation.

 

Selling To Vito: The Very Important Top Officer

by Anthony Parinello

This is a mandatory book for the sales team of a promotional products growing company. It addresses the psychology of sales in B2B at the top management level, when you want to go after large corporate clients

 

Snap Selling

by Jill Konrath

This is another mandatory book for the sales team. I’m a fan of all her books because they’re not only specifically for B2B, but also about selling to big companies. This book addresses the reality of today’s business environment, where potential clients are really busy, pressed to do more with less, which makes them reluctant to change providers, just because of the extra work they perceive it will cause.

 

Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service

by The Disney Institute and Theodore Kinni

Customer service is key in client retention. When it comes to quality of service I don’t think there is anyone that can do it better than Disney. So what could be better than learning from them? This book is about their approach to service and the principles they teach in their business programs at Disney Institute to learn how to adapt the Disney approach for their own organizations.

 

Profit First

by Mike Michalowicz

Author of The Pumpkin Plan & The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, this book was a game changer at my business. It explains a simple accounting method that ends the ups and downs cash cycles of operating payment-to-payment. His books are extremely helpful for the small business. His principals will help you have control of your cashflow and turn your business profitable permanently.

 

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

by Gino Wickman

This is a fantastic book to help you organize your business and the systems we need to have in place to be able to scale and grow. As entrepreneurs, we all face similar challenges when hiring personnel, keeping profit margins healthy, and even growing in the right direction. This book explains The Entrepreneurial Operating System, a simple system for running our business. It provides clarity in the 6 key components of our business and how we can strengthen them.

 

Rhythm: How to Achieve Breakthrough Execution and Accelerate Growth

by Patrick Thean

When growing our business we usually reach stages of a plateau where moving to higher levels implies higher levels of complexity in the operation. This book is identifying the signs of setbacks before they occur. It’s about a process to get into the habit of achieving success, week after week, quarter after quarter, year after year.

 

Those are my six recommendations today. What about you?

Would love to hear what you’d like to add to the list.