Everyone wants to achieve more success and better results in all areas of their life. The hardest part to create that is forming new habits and living outside your current comfort zone. Some would say raising your lid! If you aren’t familiar with that phrase you will definitely want to read John C. Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. To arm yourself mentally and start forming those success habits as a small business owner, you will need a steady dose of personal development. My mentor has always told me that reading or listening to something positive and knowledgeable is easy to do, but conversely is easy not to do! How bad do you want that new life you are pursuing!? Here is a list of phenomenal books that have helped me along my journey to success and the life of my dreams! I cannot wait to hear how these books impact your success journey.
“Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling“
By Jeb Blount
Whether you are a new business owner, someone new to sales, or a veteran in both, sometimes you find yourself doing all the things in business except the most important one! Talking to new people and prospecting for new sales. This is my go-to book any time I need a little extra motivation to hustle or to sharpen my focus on what my calendar activities should be full of every day. It is the excuse-buster of my collection! Jeb shares unapologetic truth on the real amount of effort it takes to be successful in your business ventures and in life. A must read for any start-up, facing any hiccup in the economy, or the fight we all fight with procrastination and laziness towards the real amount of sweat equity and hustle it takes to achieve a better life pursuing our best self. I really appreciate the balance of positive motivation and solid information that you can take action with right away in your daily grind. I read this book at least once a year. Not only because I have hopefully grown and can absorb the information differently, but also just to stay sharp on the primary focus in sales and business ownership, PROSPECTING!
“Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!”
By Robert T. Kiyosaki
My life forever changed in the best way after consuming this book. I will always look at what I consider assets in the world completely different now. If you are in search of how to become financially free, how to have true passive income coming in, and how to learn that you really can succeed and have a balanced lifestyle, this is a great book to build your personal development foundation on. The most freeing thing is that the information works for anyone. It does not matter what your gender, race, upbringing, political views, etc. are, it is all right there for those who choose to take the information and begin acting on it daily. I personally grew up with a wonderful family, strong work ethics, great moral compasses, but unfortunately many generations of poverty/victim mindset when it came to financials. Had I only known earlier that a lifetime of education was available in a short and easy read. My mentor always uses the line, “What’s worse, the person who cannot read or the person who can read and chooses not too!” That quote hits hard for this book. Don’t read this book and not plan on making changes in your life because once you have absorbed this information, there is no going back to an ignorant bliss of living a financial life of mediocrity.
“Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success”
By Adam M. Grant PhD
It might just be me or maybe it’s how I feel about a generality in today’s society. The instant gratification desire, purchase now, worry later mentality or urge that feels like is all over social media is a real battle for anyone stepping out to create their own path and business success. It’s really easy to think you are moving fast enough or play the comparison game with others who seem like they have it all together and leave you thinking, what am I doing wrong, when in all actuality you are doing amazing! You just need to keep the consistency over time formula to work for you! “Give and Take” is my constant reminder of my philosophy in life and in business. To remind myself that there is no short cut or cheat code to create success in your life. I dive back into this book any time I find myself frustrated with my current level of success or trying to trick myself into thinking I deserve more and can rush the process. It’s a great provider of patience and reassurance that doing business the right way, serving people and having that ‘success for all with abundance’ mentality, will be greatly rewarding long term.
“The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy“
By Jon Gordon
One of the greatest short reads in my personal collection! Simple and to the point is my favorite combo. If “Give and Take” is my philosophy reminder, “The Energy Bus” is my surge of positive energy any time I’m feeling the effects from a generally negative world or I need a reminder how grateful I should be for where I’m currently at in life. The story of George meeting Joy is captivating and will honestly hit too close to home for all of us! This book will remind you, or show you, how powerful 10 simple rules can impact your everyday walk-in business and your personal life. If you listen to this book and don’t smile the entire time, call me and let me know, I’ll come up with some way to make it up to you for a perceived waste of time! I try to read at least twice a year and would challenge you to make sure to ride the bus, The Energy Bus at least once a year yourself!
“The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy”
By Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D., William D. Danko Ph.D.
Oh man! This book is a must to control my urge for impulsive purchases and helps me with my self-discipline to delay gratification today for a promise of a better life tomorrow. The info is a bit dated, but the philosophy, knowledge, and wisdom shared is timeless. I love that success leaves clues, and “The Millionaire Next Door” does a great job using real world applicable things we can take control of and guard against as we work towards our best life. I feel this book helped me most with being self-aware of the comparison game that we are all susceptible too in the day of social media and snapshot perfect moments in people’s life. Everyone seems to have a great catalog of only the good stuff and never shares the real struggles or unmasks themselves to show that most are trying to keep up with the Joneses and never even know why! The journey Dr. Stanley allows us to join in on, really helps us give major thought to why are we trying to accumulate wealth and what is our definition of success! I would be shocked after you read this book if your personal definition isn’t forever changed! Hope to see you in a quite neighborhood, under the radar as multi-millionaire neighbors!
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