Read 40 Books on Business – Here’s What Will Make You Rich

I just finished reading these 40 books about business. So I can cut out all the fluff and save you time. You see, I’ve got an issue with most business books. They have some great concepts that anyone can learn from. But they’re buried under so much filler content that it takes ages to get to the gold. So as a millionaire businessman myself, I wondered if I could use my knowledge to cut through all the waffle. That’s why over the last three months. I’ve made it my mission to read all these books and note down the key points that will actually make you rich. So I’ve divided them into four categories.

1. How to start with no money,
2. how to sell anything to anyone,
3. how to market your business,
4. and how to manage your money like the 1%.

Now, you may think some of these categories may not appeal to you. But trust me, put them together and they could make you a force to be reckoned with in the business world. Let’s get onto the first section.

How to start with no money

So how to start with no money has got to be one of the most Googled questions ever, so let’s dive into it.

Step One:

Step one is to find your strengths. This seems pretty obvious, however, society has conditioned us to actually focus on improving our weaknesses rather than doubling down on our strengths. But the reality is, you can be 10 times more successful as you focus on following the path of least resistance. In other words, the stuff you are already good at. “StrengthsFinder 2.0” says your strengths come down to a simple equation. Talent times investment equals strength.

Let’s use golf as an example. I enjoy playing at my local club, although I’m not bad. I’m far from great. Suppose you took both Tiger Woods and me at the age of 13 and gave us the same amount of coaching and practice. I’m willing to bet that ever hour he practiced would equate to about 10 of mine. This is because his inherent talent for the sport is significantly higher, given him a larger multiplier. That’s why this book is so great as it helps you find your most powerful multiplier so you can make more progress than others in a shorter amount of time.

Once you start thinking of weaknesses as an expense you need to minimize. Your time will become so much more effective. You can always find people who can make up for your weaknesses. “How to win friends and influence people,” give some great networking techniques you can try out. So before we move on, ask yourself this, have you been trying to become successful through fixing your weaknesses or through developing and implying your innate strengths?

Step Two:

Step two, come up with an idea. Now that you understand the importance of playing to your strengths, it’s equally as important to choose a business idea where you have an advantage. This is because every company that goes belly up has one thing in common, they couldn’t outrun the competition. “Zero to One” was written by Peter Thiel, the man who sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion.

What’s even more impressive is that his original team who received his personal mentorship, went on to establish companies like YouTube and LinkedIn. Given the number of successful businesses he’s influenced, it’s clear that he’s mastered the secret of generating billion dollar ideas. He says that billion dollar business ideas come from betting on a contrarian truth. This is a real truth about how people will act in the future that they aren’t aware of or don’t want to admit.

Steve Jobs believed that we didn’t want a keypad on our phone. Very few people agree with him, especially as Blackberry was the most popular phone at the time, and that thing was literally riddled with buttons I bet you guys don’t even remember Blackberrys, but he believed in his vision and was rewarded after releasing the iPhone and changing the world forever. This isn’t an isolated example.

Uber believed that we would feel comfortable getting into a stranger’s car and Netflix believed we would want to binge watch TV shows. If you are struggling to come up with a contrarian truth, then give “Start with Why” a read as it will get you thinking in the right kind of way. Perhaps you’re not aiming to start a billion dollar business, but consider the things you believe can be improved by adopting a slightly different approach. People will probably think you’re crazy at first, but that’s okay.

Going against the grain lets you carve out a massive advantage before anyone else even notices what you’re up to. This means you won’t have to worry about competition for a very long time.

Step Three:

Step three is create a plan. Now you know what you’re good at and you’ve got your idea. You need to get very clear on how your business is gonna be structured. Otherwise, you’re just gonna be running around like a headless chicken, not knowing where to focus your attention. “Business Model Generation” is a collective effort from 470 entrepreneurs, professors, and CEOs across 45 different countries, they were able to break down any business model into the essential nine building blocks that make up any business.

They believe that many business plans are overloaded with text and that using visuals can be much more powerful. Let’s do it together so you can see how it’s done. Rather than boring you with a cliche lemonade stand example, which, let’s be real, no one’s actually gonna do that I’m going to outline a business that I reckon could be a real winner right now. Let’s call it Timmy’s Membership Builders. Firstly, Timmy loves watching educational YouTubers, but gets frustrated because lots of the advice is generic and doesn’t really apply to him.

So Timmy decides this is what he wants to change. He wants to create a way YouTubers can interact with viewers on a more personal level by building their membership platforms. This is Timmy’s value proposition.

Next, Timmy needs to identify his customers, assuming that approximately nought.1% of YouTube subscribers will want to join a membership, he should collaborate with YouTubers who have over 1 million subscribers. This strategy will generate enough value to justify his business venture.

Now, Timmy needs to figure out what channels he can use to reach his customers. He might choose email, DMs or even physical letters. You are probably thinking if a YouTuber has over a million subscribers, then they’re gonna be pretty hard to reach. But I can tell you from experience, if you have a good value proposition, then someone on their team will see your message. We aren’t as unreachable as you might think. Building customer relationships is the hardest part. That’s why Timmy may have to start off working for free to build up some case studies and then offer his first clients discounts for referring him to their friends. Focus less on what you can gain and more on what you can give as this form stronger relationships. If you are struggling, then you can always read, “Give and Take.” Now consider revenue streams.

Timmy could choose to charge a percentage of revenue for managing memberships, freeing up the YouTuber to concentrate on producing videos. If Timmy took a 10% cut from a membership of 10,000 people each paying $5 a month, it would amount a $5,000 of monthly revenue. As the membership grows, this figure will increase.

Now Timmy needs to work out what he needs to make this all happen. These include his key resources like a website, key activities such as advertising, and then key partnerships, which may include working closely with a developer.

Step Four:

Finally, Timmy needs to calculate his costs. If he can do this business for less than what he expects to earn, then he is on the right track. If not, this evaluation will save him from disappointment in the future. That brings us to step four, building a minimum viable product. The harsh truth is many entrepreneurs put their head down and work for months on a product, but don’t realize that they’re building something that no one actually wants to buy. “The Lean Startup” suggests that instead of working super hard to create the most polished product, you should create something called a minimum viable product or MVP. What’s great about this is that it doesn’t actually have to cost you any money.

The founder of Dropbox made a short video showing how his file storage solution worked and managed to increase his waiting list from 5,000 to 75,000 people in the space of a couple of days.

The amazing thing about this story is that the video was fake. The product didn’t even actually exist yet but he was then able to use the waiting list to convince investors that it was a good idea and then he was able to make it into a reality. There are so many way that you can make a free MVP nowadays especially with the help of AI. If you want some inspiration then the “ChatGPT Millionaire” is a great little read, you could use your MVP to appeal to investors, launch a Kickstarter campaign, find a business partner or bootstrap by reinvesting the profits back into building your business.

A crucial point to keep in mind is that if you are starting with no money and looking for any kind of funding, you must provide undeniable proof of product demand.

Step Five:

Step five, execute your vision. Now, having a plan, an idea, and an MVP isn’t that precious. Lots of people make it to this stage, but what really matters is the execution. The crazy thing is most people have the capacity to double or triple their income by consistently applying what they already know.

The issue is people don’t put in the work. “The 12 Week Year” proposes a new way to get more done in 12 weeks than 12 months. It suggests that we should break our year into fou and think of those quarters as our year. This may sound silly as it’s still the same amount of time.

However, this way of thinking forces you to confront your results every three months. I don’t know about you, but personally, when I’ve got a deadline, I work a lot harder.

My businesses have a different buzz around the office when we’re nearing the end of the year. So by using this approach, instead of having that buzz of motivation once, we can have it four times a year, as Parkinson law states, “Work expands to fit the amount of time we allocate to it,” therefore, applying the 12 week year approach, we can actually achieve more and make significant progress towards building a business you want.

However, this 12 week approach only works if you respect your deadlines. If you are the type of person who battles with procrastination, then “Extreme Ownership” is worth a read. It’s packed with Navy SEAL tactics to whip your discipline into shape. Can you handle the truth? – You can’t handle the truth! – Quick one from me before we get into the next section, and forgive my voice, I’m filming this a few days after as I’ve been quite ill.

One of the best ways to start an online business nowadays is to turn your skills, passions, and experiences into online courses, exclusive membership sites, subscription podcasts, thriving communities, personalized coaching and more.

These types of businesses are extremely cost effective to set up and run. They also have the upside of being extremely scalable. I know multiple people making millions using this business model,

all from their laptop.

If any of that sounds interesting, the Kajabi is the perfect tool for you. It’s the ultimate all in one platform that helps people build successful online businesses by unlocking predictable recurring revenue. They’re also sponsoring this portion of the video, but before you skip, if you’re an entrepreneur, trust me, you wanna listen to this. Recurring revenue is the holy grail in the business world.

I mean, there’s a reason why everything’s turning into a subscription nowadays. If you know how much money’s coming in every month, then it gives you the confidence you need to expand your business and eventually hire people without worrying too much about your cash flow.

Kajabi is a great choice as they don’t take a cut from your revenue because everything is owned and controlled by you. So you keep 100% of what you earn. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, then right now Kajabi is offering a free 30 day trial to start your business if you go to kajabi.com/mark.

So go to kajabi.com/mark and join the creators and entrepreneurs who have collectively made over $7 billion. Right, let’s get back to the books.

How to Sell Anything to Anyone:

So how to sell anything to anyone. This section isn’t just important for business, but in all aspects of your life. Maybe you wanna persuade your friend to help you, your boss to listen to you or even your parents to give you more pocket money. The reality is we’re all selling in some way, although some of us are much better skilled at it than others.

Step One:

Step one, set the frame. Believe it or not, most people fail before they even ask for what they want because they don’t warm up whoever they’re talking to before trying to persuade them. “Pre-suasion” shares techniques you can use to make people more receptive towards your request before even asking.

In this book, there’s a story about a consultant who was having a hard time because people kept asking for discounts on his services. So he came up with a clever trick, before he tell them his price. He joked, “Well, as you can see, I can’t exactly charge you a million for this.” After he started using this joke, guess what? No one asked for a discount anymore and he could happily charge $75,000 for his expertise.

This sneaky little trick is called price anchoring. It’s all about that first piece of information or that anchor that people latch onto. They then base their understanding of everything else around that, framing, however, extends far beyond what we say.

Non-verbal communication makes up 55% of all communication and much of that is influenced by how we dress. That’s why I recommend considering some of the advice in this little book “Style & The Man,” remember, don’t be in a hurry when it comes to setting the frame before asking for what you want. Trust me, using these strategies can flip the whole scenario in your favor.

Step Two:

Step two is build rapport. “The Art of the Deal” starts with Trump taking us through a week in his life. The thing that struck out to me was the sheer amount of calls he took per day. We are talking between 50 and 100 calls. This habit of regular check-ins kept Trump at the forefront of people’s minds. So when a business deal came up that was advantageous for Trump or he had something to sell, it was easier to close the deal due to his multiple nurtured connections.

Today, we can achieve this by building a personal brand on social media. Gary V emphasizes this in his book, “Crushing It.” Having a personal brand increases our touch points with people before we attempt to sell anything to them. Therefore, increasing the likelihood of future sales. Remember, people do business with people they like.

Step Three:

Step three, become more persuasive, so now you’ve set the frame and built the rapport. You need to be able to persuade people to give you what you want. “To Sell Is Human” argues that the most effective way to do this is to attune with your prospect. I know that sounds a bit wishy-washy, but the experiment the book talks about makes this all start to come together.

152 students were instructed to negotiate the sale of a gas station. They were divided into two main groups, buyers and sellers. The buyer group was further split into three subgroups. The first subgroup was instructed to focus on being empathetic to the sellers, the second on the seller’s thoughts and the third on their own role. The highest number of successful deals came from the subgroup that focus on understanding the seller’s thoughts. Great deals always come when the buyers and sellers are in tune with each other. “Pitch Anything” makes a solid point, that when most people pitch, they’re too busy thinking about what they want and not what their prospects are thinking. They assume that the audience care as much about their business as they do, but here’s the harsh truth, they don’t.

Step Four:

Step four, collaborate effectively. Now that you are attuned to each other, what if you could transform a sales negotiation into a collaboration, instead of a one-sided process? Well, “Never Split the Difference” suggests you can by asking something called calibrated questions. Once you both feel like you understand each other, you can then start using this technique as it directs the other person’s attention towards your problems.

These types of questions normally start with what or how. With the ultimate question being, how am I supposed to do that? Let’s say your landlord was gonna put up your rent at $1,700 a month and you didn’t wanna pay that much You could say, it seems like, you think your house is undervalued, but how am I supposed to pay $1,700 a month when I only make enough money to afford $1,500 a month? The key is to say it in a genuine way that doesn’t seem confrontational. They should hear, “I value your intelligence. Can you please help me solve my problem?” Asking this type of question will make the other person think creatively or even lower their price.

It’s not a magic trick and it won’t always work but it’s definitely worth giving it a shot, and here’s a quick tip. If you are on the receiving end of this tactic, never let another person’s problems become your problems. Understand them for sure, but remember, it’s not your job to solve them or you might just find yourself caught in this trap. Good questions are really a superpower. That’s why it’s worth giving “Better Small Talk” a read.

Step Five:

Step five is closing the deal. You must never ever leave a conversation with a potential buyer without a firm commitment. Otherwise, all the hard work will be for nothing. “Objections: The Ultimate Guide ,,,x./for Mastering The Art and Science of Getting Past No” recommends getting the potential buyer to agree to a specific action on a fixed date. This is known as micro commitment.

When trying to secure a commitment, be prepared for potential objections. For instance, if someone says, “I’m quite busy, how about you call me next week to arrange something?” A possible response could be, “My week is also looking pretty packed and I wanna make sure I can dedicate the appropriate amount of time for our discussion to ensure you don’t miss out.

Can we schedule our meeting right now? Would Friday at 03:30 work for you?” Obviously, you can adjust the time to whatever works for you, but see how that question makes it much easier for the other person to say “Yes,” rather than objecting again. Of course, a bit of charisma can always help close a deal as well. Just think of the most popular closer on the TV show “Suits,” Harvey Specter. Interestingly, the actor is completely different from his role in the show, so this proves that charisma can be faked to some degree. If you are interested in learning more about this, consider reading “The Charisma Myth.”

How to Market Your Business:

So how to market your business. Let’s face it, you could have the best product or service in the world. But what’s the use if nobody knows about it?

Step One:

Step one is developing your unique selling proposition. Ever found yourself wondering why some businesses explode and others just don’t? Why people rave about one business and ignore another? Well, “Purple Cow” believes that the key is being remarkable.

Every marketer is traditionally aware of the five Ps, product, positioning, pricing, publicity, and promotion. However, this book introduces a sixth P, the purple cow. I know this might sound a bit strange, but stick with me. Imagine you are driving along a country road and you see a brown cow grazing. It’s so common that you hardly notice it, much like the barrage of everyday marketing and advertising.

Now, imagine instead seeing a purple cow, you’d stop the car, you’d get out, you’d take a selfie with it. It’s noteworthy and you can’t help but talk about it. Imagine if your business was like that purple cow, compelling people to talk about it. So think about what makes your business unique, what do you do better than anyone else? What unique value do you offer to your customers? Lots of businesses are using TikTok and YouTube to stand out, especially restaurants, who are coming up with unique dishes that they’re using as purple cows to draw in customers. If you want to dive more into creating videos, then “YouTube Secrets,” which is down here just like that, gives you a really good insight into making viral content.

Step Two:

Step two, gather real world data. If you want any hope marketing your product or service, then you need to know what people think about it. However, this is where most people make the mistake of asking the people closest to them for their thoughts. This results in them just giving you blind encouragement and generic support, which might be good for boosting your ego, but it won’t help you market your product. “The Mom Test” offers a solution to this problem. It says that instead of saying, “Here’s my business, what do you think?” You should instead ask about their life in the context of your business. I know this sounds confusing, but let me give you an example.

Say you are starting an online course business that teaches people how to play the piano from the comfort of their own home. Instead of asking your friends and family if they liked the idea, talk about them, if they play the piano, you could ask about the initial challenges they faced, the solutions they seeked out, and any frustrations they had with the solutions they found.

If they don’t play the piano, you could slightly tweak the questions. This is an extremely smart way to get useful data on your business as it’s almost impossible for anyone, even your mum, to give you blind support and encouragement. You can use this information to help identify “Blue Oceans,” which are areas of a market with low competition, but very high demand.

Step Three:

Step three, establish your brand message. Despite having a USP and necessary data, many new entrepreneurs struggle to capture the attention of potential customers. People don’t like feeling sold to and because of this, it’s hard to get someone to listen long enough to actually get them to want to buy from you. “Building A Story Brand” says the solution is used in a specific story structure in your marketing that cuts through the noise and holds people’s attention.

You first need to create a character. This character isn’t your business, it’s your target customer. This is because everyone sees themselves as the main character in their story. You need to make it very clear what this character wants. At this stage, it’s best to stick to the universal desires, like, building wealth and status, higher quality relationships or increased health.

Next, your character should face a specific problem related to your product that they want to overcome. For instance, if you are running a piano teaching business, the external problem they’d want to overcome is, not being good enough at playing the piano. Their internal struggle might be questioning their own abilities. If they’re good enough, here, you can introduce your business as their guide to overcoming this problem and share past success stories to establish your authority.

Both these elements build trust in you and your business. You need to be able to get this message across in multiple formats, but one of the most crucial is with writing. That’s why it’s worth giving “Copywriting Secrets” a read. The main takeaway here is to portray your potential customers as heroes in your marketing. This narrative structure, commonly known as “The Hero’s Journey,” is frequently used in TV shows and films.

Step Four:

If you make people into the hero of your story, they’ll sit up and listen. Once you’ve sold to someone once, it’s so much easier to sell to them again with the right strategy. That’s why step four is create upsells. It’s actually shocking how many businesses are leaving so much money on the table by not using this technique. “Dotcom Secrets” teaches you exactly how to build a value ladder and sell higher price products and services to your existing customers. You’ve probably already seen this in action at your local dentist and not even thought about it. Normally, a dental practice starts off by selling you a simple checkup.

Next, they might offer you teeth cleaning, then teeth whitening. After that, a retainer and before you know it, they’ve pushed you all the way up the ladder to their most expensive product, cosmetic surgery. This approach can be applied to any business you are starting. If customers have a great experience with your lower priced products, they’re likely to continue climbing the ladder.

Step Five:

It’s also important to remember if you don’t provide options for them to spend more money with you, they may end up going to one of your competitors. Ideally, you shouldn’t have to upsell people face to face. “Expert Secrets” outlines a way you can use the perfect webinar model to upsell many people at once, whilst keeping that personal feel, but how do you make sure you never run out of customers to climb your value ladder? That’s where step five comes in, driving up demand.

If you followed all of the steps so far, you should have plenty of demand, but instead of trying to sell to everyone, you could try and limit your product or service and increase the price. “Oversubscribed” states that every product that is oversubscribed has people that didn’t get it, even though they were willing to buy it.

Rolex has mastered this strategy better than most. If you wanna purchase a new Rolex, you have to visit an authorized store, join a long waiting list and patiently wait. This process can take up to four years before you’re offered the chance to buy a watch. Some people never receive the call as Rolex doesn’t deem them the right customer for their brand. Does this sound a bit snobby? Possibly. But does it work? Absolutely.

If your product is seen as oversubscribed, competition becomes less of a concern and you have the flexibility to set your prices as you see fit. It’s all about following the “Don’t Make Me Think” principle. You’ve got to make it very easy for your customers to understand your website and messaging.

How to Manage Your Money Like The !%

So, how to manage your money like the 1%. This section is absolutely crucial. You won’t believe how many people are amazing at almost everything else but struggle when it comes to handling their cash. This is a big reason why one out of every three people earning over 100 grand a year are still living paycheck to paycheck.

Step one, monitor your finances. “The Total Money Makeover,” while not specifically focused on business finances. It does offer some valuable principles for keeping your money under control, which can be applied to business finances as well. Here’s the major takeaway for all you entrepreneurs, keep a sharp eye on your finances.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of running your business, that you lose sight of your numbers and before you know it. You’re in a financial pickle without even realizing it. Think about it.

Financial laziness is a lot sneakier than physical laziness. It’s not like you are forced to confront it every time you look in the mirror, you can just brush it under the rug and only start panicking when it’s too late.

So if you feel like you’ve lost touch with your financial situation, here’s a little reality check for you. Ask yourself this, if all your revenue stopped coming in tomorrow, could you keep your business afloat for at least three months? If the answer’s no, then sorry to break it to you, but you’re financially outta shape.

It’s time to hit the financial gym. That brings us onto step two, remain profitable. You might think being profitable, it’s the same as being financially stable, but they’re actually pretty different.

Most businesses morph into cash hungry beasts. This is because when most ambitious entrepreneurs make sales. They pump most of that sales revenue back into growing their business and guess what happens? Their expenses shoot up, but they think it’s fine as they make their profits once their business is bigger.

However, the profits never come because when sales drop, expenses stay high, which causes the business to bleed money and eventually collapse. “Profit First” urges entrepreneurs to think about profit in a different way. The traditional way is sales minus expenses equals profit, but “Profit First” says, “You should instead flip the formula around to sales minus profit equals expenses.”

By taking a portion of each sale and allocating it to profit, you force your business to become more efficient. That’s the funny thing about having less money to spend. You actually start to discover you can run things for far less than you initially thought.

Step three, plan for taxes. Did you know the average taxpayer in the US will spend an estimated $524,625, around a third of their lifetime earnings on various state and federal taxes, and that’s the average person. As an entrepreneur, you’re gonna be paying a lot more.

Many people think the tax system is evil and just there to get your money. However, “Tax-Free Wealth” states that the IRS has written a tax code in a way to save us money, that’s right. The book states that the current tax code contains over 5,800 pages and only 30 of those address how to pay taxes.

This means that the IRS dedicated 5,770 pages or 99.5% of the code to help us avoid taxes and therefore increase our wealth. It’s very similar in the UK and other Western countries. They want to help stimulate the economy above taking your money. That’s why it’s really worth getting a great accountant who can take advantage of all the tax breaks you are entitled to.

Step four is playing your own game. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to base your decisions on data and not be easily led by others. “The Intelligent Investor” is one of my all-time favorite investing books. It discusses a scenario that perfectly applies to both running a business and investing in one.

Imagine owning a small business that costs you $1,000. and you have a business partner called Mr. Market. Every single day he pops in and tells you how much he thinks your piece of the business is worth. Not only that, but he’s always ready to buy your share or sell you more at that price.

Sometimes Mr. Market seems to hit the nail on the head. His valuation makes sense based on what’s happening in the business and what the future looks like, but at other times. Mr. Market gets a bit carried away with his emotions and the price he offers can seem, well, a little bit crazy.

Now, if you are a savvy investor or a smart business person, are you gonna let Mr. Market’s daily chat sway your own opinion of your $1,000 stake in the business? Well, you shouldn’t. Most of the time you’d be smarter to make up your own mind about what your investment is worth. Remember, most people are driven by their emotions. If you wanna see long-term success, you’ve gotta think rationally with your business and investment.

Step five is mitigating risks. When you’re in the early stages of business, you have to take big risks and think quickly, but as your business grows, it makes sense to slow down and think about mitigating as many unnecessary risks as possible. I’ve had many multimillionaire friends that didn’t do this and ended up losing everything.

Thinking fast and slow outlines that your brain actually has two ways of thinking. System one is fast and intuitive, and system two is slow and analytical. Listen to this question and answer it in your head as fast as you can. A bat and ball cost $1 and 10 cents in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? If you’re like most people, you’ll have answered that the ball costs you 10 cents, which is incorrect. The answer is actually 5 cents. This is because your thinking system one came up with the quick answer. Then when your system two activated, you started to understand why 5 cents was the correct answer. It’s crucial to understand this,

so you don’t jump to conclusions and take on more risks than necessary in your business. I had five books left over that don’t really fit neatly into the four sections. But they’re definitely great books to pick up if you wanna dive even deeper into business. Feel free to take a screenshot and add them to your list if you find the titles interesting. And if you wanna keep learning. Then you should watch this video next where I read 40 different books all about money, but don’t click on it just yet.

What are some must-read books on business?

• “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill
• “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
• “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries
• “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki
• “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie

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