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10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf - Business - Nairaland

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10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 4:36am On Nov 04, 2014
Entrepreneurial journey is pretty much on-the-job learning and there is no replacement to that. But, to help understand some common pitfalls and how other successful entrepreneurs overcame them is also crucial. Books provide that knowledge in simplified and consumable format. I have following 10books that I keep in my arsenal as reference and read them whenever I need, these are powerful and helpful book I would consider must for entrpreneurs. They work as a great refresher in educating me and helping me calibrate my trajectory.

1.) Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

2.) The Long Tail

"The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes. From supermarket shelves to advertising agencies, the ability to offer vast choice is changing everything, and causing us to rethink where our markets lie and how to get to them. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it, from DVDs at Netflix to songs on iTunes to advertising on Google.

3.) A Whole New Mind

The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't. Drawing on research from around the world, Pink outlines the six fundamentally human abilities that are absolute essentials for professional success and personal fulfillment-and reveals how to master them. A Whole New Mind takes readers to a daring new place, and a provocative and necessary new way of thinking about a future that's already here.

4.) Purple Cow

You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice. What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last? Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow. Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.

5.) Founders at Work

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company.

6.) Rework

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the competition. The truth is, you need less than you think. You don't need to be a workaholic. You don't need to staff up. You don't need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don't even need an office. Those are all just excuses. With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of "downsizing," and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.

7.) The Art of the Start

Author Guy Kawasaki is a household name when it comes to entrepreneurship. This book, stood by Guy Kawasaki's name, is completely focused on one thing, how to get anything (business, event or any idea) up and running, using 20 years of Guy's experience in the field of start ups as the basis for the great advice contained within. The Art of the Start covers all the stuff you are going to need to think about in order to get your startup going, from thinking up a fantatsic name for it through to recruiting people to work in it.

8.) Business Model Generation

Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 "Business Model Canvas" practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model--or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you'll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition. Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you're ready to change the rules, you belong to "the business model generation!"

9.) The E-Myth Revisited

In this first new and totally revised edition of the 150,000-copy underground bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. He walks you through the steps in the life of a business from entrepreneurial infancy, through adolescent growing pains, to the mature entrepreneurial perspective, the guiding light of all businesses that succeed. He then shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business whether or not it is a franchise. Finally, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business. After you have read The E-Myth Revisited, you will truly be able to grow your business in a predictable and productive way.

10.) The Innovator's Dilemma

In this revolutionary bestseller, innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen says outstanding companies can do everything right and still lose their market leadership-or worse, disappear altogether. And not only does he prove what he says, but he tells others how to avoid a similar fate. Focusing on “disruptive technology,” Christensen shows why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. Whether in electronics or retailing, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know when to abandon traditional business practices. Using the lessons of successes and failures from leading companies, The Innovator's Dilemma presents a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation.

I would love to learn your top inspirational book for entrepreneurship. Please leave your best choices in the comments below to create a consolidated list of all top books.

http://v1shal.com/content/10-must-have-books-successful-entrepreneurs-bookshelf/
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 4:44am On Nov 04, 2014
Guys let's get these books to learn more about business.Its time for us to start reading relevant books and remain focus. I have three out of the 10 books. We can exchange books if you want. Cheers!
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by Nobody: 6:58am On Nov 04, 2014
omoluabi1:
Guys let's get these books to learn more about business.Its time for us to start reading relevant books and remain focus. I have three out of the 10 books. We can exchange books if you want. Cheers!
Pls can u give me d ones u av?
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by Infomizer(m): 7:17am On Nov 04, 2014
Nice post. I'll also recommend Dan and Chip Heath's " Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is
Hard" and "Warriors on the High Wire: The Balancing Act of Brand Leadership in the 21st Century" by Fiona Gilmore. They may not be in the startup genre but it is important for an entrepreneur to journey through the pages especially for big dreamers. Imma look out for the books you listed especially Rework. I have a feeling the author is my kinda guy..Thanks op.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by nke001: 8:51am On Nov 04, 2014
You can also add ''The Richest Man In Babylon''.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 9:01am On Nov 04, 2014
BAWSElady:

Pls can u give me d ones u av?


Nope, we can only exchange books. One exchange at a time.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 9:08am On Nov 04, 2014
Infomizer:
Nice post. I'll also recommend Dan and Chip Heath's " Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is
Hard" and "Warriors on the High Wire: The Balancing Act of Brand Leadership in the 21st Century" by Fiona Gilmore. They may not be in the startup genre but it is important for an entrepreneur to journey through the pages especially for big dreamers. Imma look out for the books you listed especially Rework. I have a feeling the author is my kinda guy..Thanks op.

Do you have the book you mentioned above? Let's swap books? Are u game?
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by Infomizer(m): 9:24am On Nov 04, 2014
omoluabi1:


Do you have the book you mentioned above? Let's swap books? Are u game?

I've got the e-book version of the former and I borrowed the latter from.a friend.back in 2009. Do u do e-books?
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by Trillyonaire: 9:25am On Nov 04, 2014
I've 1,6,8,9,10 though I feel Gladwell is too theoretical. Keeping them in the Bookshelf won't change your life though. Reading and applying relevant insights would

Reading the 10x principle by Grant Cardone now, I like it.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 9:42am On Nov 04, 2014
Infomizer:


I've got the e-book version of the former and I borrowed the latter from.a friend.back in 2009. Do u do e-books?

Oh no, I don't do e-books. Perhaps I'm just a conventional reader. I like holding the paper book to my face but reading books from an ipad doesn't do it for me.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by Infomizer(m): 9:53am On Nov 04, 2014
omoluabi1:

Oh no, I don't do e-books. Perhaps I'm just a conventional reader. I like holding the paper book to my face but reading books from an ipad doesn't do it for me.

I prefer ebooks as they're convenient for me. And are free! wink

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Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 9:58am On Nov 04, 2014
Trillyonaire:
I've 1,6,8,9,10 though I feel Gladwell is too theoretical. Keeping them in the Bookshelf won't change your life though. Reading and applying relevant insights would

Reading the 10x principle by Grant Cardone now, I like it.


How can any sane business man buy relevant book and not read it? Wow, you're reading 10x principle by Grant already? I won't have it until december.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by dking123: 10:10am On Nov 04, 2014
But why is it that successfull Nigerians dont write.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by Nobody: 10:16am On Nov 04, 2014
omoluabi1:



Nope, we can only exchange books. One exchange at a time.
Okay, sorry 4 asking
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 10:56am On Nov 04, 2014
Infomizer:


I prefer ebooks as they're convenient for me. And are free! wink



Lol, someone is cheating the system. Pls pay for the author's sweat.
Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by omoluabi1(m): 11:04am On Nov 04, 2014
dking123:
But why is it that successfull Nigerians dont write.


I don't know any successful nigerian business man that started with nothing and became rich without government help. And the average nigerian business who worked hard to get to the top are no celebrated. The ones that are writing books are motivational speakers who are not hands on entrepreneurs but opportunists.

1 Like

Re: 10 Must Have Books For A Successful Entrepreneur's Bookshelf by Infomizer(m): 3:17pm On Nov 04, 2014
omoluabi1:




Lol, someone is cheating the system. Pls pay for the author's sweat.

I understand bro...but then I pay when I can o...wink

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