By Ami Mariscal
Updated June, 2016
If you’re a small business owner and you haven’t read through some books that have been written to help you succeed, you’re like a marathon runner who hasn’t trained to compete on the big day! Success doesn’t just happen to people, it’s a skill that is developed and honed over time. Whether you’re ultra-successful or not quite there yet, reading up on the literature that helps perfect the skills that create success is something that should have been on your to-do list yesterday!
Part of keeping your brain healthy for success means reading all you can to soak up knowledge, gain new skills related to your success, and fine-tune all the skills you need to help you and your small business be successful for the long term.
Now go, absorb the knowledge from the books on this list like a sponge so you will be more successful in your business and happiness!
The Top Books to Create a Profitable & Happy Company
Because I love books and these topics, this is an ever-growing list.
The B Corp Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good
by Ryan Honeyman
There are so many great ideas in this book to create an incredibly happy company culture! It’s an excellent reference guide for ANY business owner who wants to create a happy team and be part of the solution to a better environment and global community. Be the change you want to see in the world. The B-Corp handbook helps you live that value by incorporating it into the way you deal with your team and your company culture.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High
by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler
This may come as a great surprise (wink) that the most heated I get is with my hubby ? A phrase that has served me well in these circumstances is to “Start with heart”. I learned that from this book and that is just the beginning.
Nonviolent Communication: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships
by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg
Dr. Marshall Rosenberg has traveled the world creating peace in places some wouldn’t believe peace could exist. He eloquently shares the tools he uses to create that peace in this book. However, I have told many people that we need to find a better phrase than nonviolent communication because this is so much more than that. It’s an incredible path to communicating better every single day with your loved ones and strangers alike.
A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted
by Will Bowen
This may come as a great surprise (wink) that the most heated I get is with my hubby ? A phrase that has served me well in these circumstances is “Start with heart”.
How to Give Half of Your Work Away for Free
by Matthew Manos
In his book “How to Give Half of Your Work Away for Free”, Mr. Manos explains why it’s an important model for service-based businesses and for making our world a better place. There are so many wonderful benefits! Here are 3 of my favorites benefits of this model:
1) Great word of mouth marketing for getting lots of leads
2) Creative capacity building allows you to build pipelines of team members
3) It allows for innovation and creativity beyond what you can do with paying clients potentially resulting in huge benefits to the quality of your work and your bottom line.
Of course, there are some hard parts too… Obviously you don’t want to work twice as much, so in order to make this model work, you have to use a creative approach to capacity building. Matt explains how to work around the hard parts and take full advantage of the positive benefits.
The Business Model Canvas: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
by
Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler, Ron McMillan, David Maxfield
The Ultimate Sales Machine
by Chet Holmes
My bible for small business sales and marketing systems: The Ultimate Sales Machine by the late, great Chet Holmes. This book has helped thousands of business owners grow their profit exponentially. I have talked to a handful of beneficiaries myself and I constantly see it on top 10 lists of marketing & business giants like @RussellBrunson, Yanik Silver and Dane Maxwell. This book simplifies the complicated connections between principles, strategies and tactics so that anyone can understand how-to do sales & marketing like it’s common sense. It has been the number 1 inspiration for Profitlandia and for the book I’m writing on sales & marketing systems. Give it up for The Ultimate Sales Machine ladies and gents.
Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing
by Michael Port
Got Your Attention: How to Create Intrigue and Connect with Anyone
by Sam Horn
The Content Code: Six essential strategies to ignite your content, your marketing, and your business
by Mark Schaefer
I started reading The Content Code by Mark Schaefer. You are the bomb Mark, this book rocks!!! There’s so much juicy info on what makes content shareable that it’s gonna be sharapalooza once I put all the ideas into action 🙂 I love the 6 types of sharers… I’m the altruistic and connector sharer. Why do you share the content that you share?
Story Selling: Hollywood Secrets Revealed How to Sell Without Selling
by
What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story
by
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences
by Nancy Duarte
SPIN Selling
by Neil Rackham
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by David Allen
Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done
by David Allen
Making it all work : winning at the game of work and the business of life
by David Allen
The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance
By Steven Kotler
One of the best books about flow I’ve ever read… The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler. However I do have one clarification to make… In his book he talks about flow being one of the top forms of happiness. Yet he neglects to mention that living a meaningful life is the most long lasting form a happiness.
Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being
by
Delivering Happiness: a Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose
by
The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want
by
The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work
by
Go Put Your Strengths to Work
by Marcus Buckingham
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When you’re done choosing the best tools for your business and your priorities, head on over to Profitlandia where you’ll learn how to put your new tools, technologies and knowledge together in your sales and lead generation system so you can scale up your profit smarter, faster and better year after year.
