The road to building a successful business is a long and meandering one. Before you embark on an ambitious entrepreneurship journey, it helps to equip yourself properly.
And as you know, the cost of ignorance is way more than the cost of knowledge. Some of the most profitable businesses have been waylaid due to a lack of knowledge and industry expertise to keep them growing and expanding.
It’s where books come in to help you sharpen your entrepreneurial genius, boaden your ideas, avoid costly mistakes, stay motivated, and learn to hire experts and build strong teams.
This article gives you a rundown of the top 5 business books that will confidently equip you to launch your profitable business idea.
Why start with a book?
They say, “Everything you need or want is hidden in a book somewhere.” Top reasons why you should read a book or two before launching your business include:
- Get inspiration from others
- Learn from others mistakes instead of repeating
- Understand how your idea fits with the current market need
- Learn the strategies of floating a startup
- Gain industry knowledge to broaden your idea
- Gain the knowledge you need to face challenges
Top five best books to start your home business
Will It Fly?
Poor planning, untimely launch, and lack of market are the top reasons why most startups fail. Written by Pat Flynn, a thought leader in the online passive income space, Will It Fly can help you avoid these pitfalls.
The book aims to help aspiring entrepreneurs test and validate their ideas before putting their hard-won capital, time, and effort into them.
It’s not a vague, abstract book, but offers practical, real-world insights to help you determine the feasibility of your business idea and establish whether your business concept is realistic and profitable.
Just in five steps, you’ll learn the following:
- Whether your business idea aligns with your goals
- Comprehensive details about your idea that you may not have considered
- How to assess the market potential of your idea
- Test whether your business idea is realistic and profitable
- Whether to implement your idea back to the drawing board
Crushing It!
Branding is what draws the line between mediocre and great businesses. It determines how you’ll connect with your audience and make sales from the launch date going forward.
And in the digital era, social media has become a top business marketing channel for building a well-recognized, reputable brand.
Written by Gary Vaynerchuck, an established influencer in the small business ecosystem, this book equips you with the foundational principles of good branding.
You’ll learn:
- The principles of branding
- Why a clearly defined brand matters
- Establish a brand that appeals to your target audience
- Keeping your brand authentic
- How to leverage social media to its full potential
Profit First
Cash flow is the fuel that keeps your business afloat. Thus, it’s vital to get a handle on running the financial side of your business before going in. Though challenging, nailing your business finances is a great way to avoid cash flow problems that kill most startups.
For instance, you need to learn and understand how to invest for growth and handle all the money in your business to avoid mismanagement.
Profit First, written by Kike Michalowicz, helps break the intricacies of everyday small business financial management with a simple, easy-to-understand formula.
You’ll learn:
- How to increase your business’s profitability
- Remaining profitable in the entire business lifecycle
- Maintaining a positive cash flow
- Avoiding money struggles facing most startups.
Women Who Launch
Women in the business face many challenges. From the need to strike a work-family balance to stereotypes and cultural gender biases, there’s a lot to battle in the way.
They even struggle to get business financing to launch their most profitable business idea.
Though discouraging, knowing some larger-than-life women chart the same path to create lasting business legacies can keep you going at the most trying moments.
Written by Wagman-Geller, Women Who Launch is meant to motivate and inspire aspiring women entrepreneurs never to give up chasing after business success.
You’ll find inspiring stories of women who have established successful brands and draw inspiration from their challenges, strategies, and the entire entrepreneurship journey.
Some of the featured heroines include:
- Juliette Gordon Low —Girls Scouts Founder
- Sara Blakely —Spanx founder
Leaders Eat Last
Most profitable business ideas start as a one-person show. Think Facebook. Though it’s good to have a startup and expansion plan, you are never quite sure where your business idea will take you 10 years down the line.
As your business expands, you need other hands and minds to help you achieve your vision and mission. That’s where excellent leadership skills can help you build a robust team.
Written by Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last lays actionable insights in a conversational, refreshing style to help entrepreneurs develop and sharpen their leadership genius.
You’ll learn:
- How to instill trust in your team
- Motivating employees to improve performance
- Why working together matters
Other titles to read
You’ll need funds to start and keep your business running smoothly. Fintech books can help you understand how the lending landscape is changing, and the best way to access small business loans within a short call.
Top titles to read in the fintech space include:
- Breaking banks by Bretty King
- Smarter Bank by Ron Shevlin
- Digital Bank by Chris Skinner
Visit the link in the intro to learn more about the most profitable business ideas and how a small business loan can help lift your idea off the ground.
