As a lifelong learner, it is a passion of mine to continually acquire new knowledge about marketing, sales, and mastering the inner game of building a business.
When you finally master the game of marketing, you attract new leads effortlessly. When you master the game of enrollment conversations, you exponentially increase your income in your business. Finally, when you master your inner psychology, nothing stops you from achieving what you set out to accomplish.
I am continually reading and educating myself to improve upon my skills in these three areas because I see it as a lifelong journey to master these domains.
In the information age, there’s so much information out there that it’s challenging to narrow it down to the most relevant and supportive material for you while you move forward in your business. So I’d like to help you out by offering up some of my own personal favorites in my library.
Today, I’m sharing seven books that can transform your business (and life) by reading and applying their principles to your business.
I highly recommend you read all of these, but with a caveat: if all you do is spend your time acquiring knowledge by reading books, without spending time implementing what you learn, you will only end up turning your business into an expensive hobby. So be sure to take what you’ve learned and get into action! Remember, my motto is to always take imperfect action towards your goals and dreams.
I feel so strongly in the power of these books, I’m even offering you a chance to win every single one of them. Read all the way to the bottom of this article to find out how!
This transformational book includes a 28-day marketing program with a specific step-by-step program to help you energize your efforts, take the guesswork out and get new clients fast. It’s a must-read for any professional, consultant, or small business owner; especially if you know you need to learn more about sales and marketing and aren’t sure where to begin. This book will get you where you need to go.
[Note: I’m hosting a webinar on this same topic that you can check out here: Consistently Attract All The Clients You Want In Your Local Area (And Have A Business Full Of Fun And Connection). ]
Book Yourself Solid – Michael Port
This is a classic for the bootstrapped entrepreneur looking to fill their practice, It should be considered a staple in any small business leader’s library. It addresses one of the biggest challenges we face – generating a full calendar of work on a consistent basis – and provides smart but simple strategies to create relentless demand and endless leads, earning more referrals, and building profitable, long-lasting professional relationships.
Now that I have your attention (great title, right?), let me tell you why this book is one of my favorites to share with clients. It will help you gain your spot in the marketplace as a leader of your craft, and transform the way you provide your services. Written in the form of a parable, author Patrick Lencioni addresses the three fears that service providers have (Losing the Business, Being Embarrassed, and Feeling Inferior) that end up sabotaging their client relationships and costing them business. He will show you why being humble, transparent, and vulnerable with your clients sets you apart from your colleagues and allows you to build a tribe that loves you and what you do.
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) – Seth Godin
Seth Godin is one of the most brilliant marketing minds alive today. While I’d happily add any of his books to my shortlist, I chose this one because it so beautifully captures the process of learning to stick to your goals in your business while addressing a very unpleasant component I have found to be an inevitable part of success – “the dip.” I recommend it to my clients who find themselves struggling with temporary setbacks that can easily be overcome by persistence. It also provides excellent tools to help you recognize when to conserve your energy. Sometimes you need to stop struggling in a quagmire and simply step out. It’s important to know how to differentiate between temporary setbacks and energy pits. This book will show you how.
Surviving Your Serengeti: Seven Skills to Master Business and Life – Stefan Swanepoel
This is a short read, but it’s an effective one that will help you learn more about yourself – your strengths, your opportunities, and your hidden survival skills. This motivational business fable compares the life-and-death struggles of the animals that live in the Serengeti plains of East Africa with modern-day business and personal challenges of human beings. It matches your personal dominant instinctive skill with a corresponding Serengeti animal. Are you a steady, enduring wildebeest or a risk-taking mongoose? An efficient cheetah or a communicating elephant? This easily digestible book will help you find out, as well as show you how to leverage your personal, unique strengths to achieve your goals.
Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence – Gary Mack with David Casstevens
What better way to understand the how to master your inner game than a book about sports psychology? Don’t be fooled by its focus on sports – this book contains a wealth of knowledge on how some of the best and brightest in the world have mastered their inner psychology to achieve their dreams. These principles all translate to inner game psychology for the small business entrepreneur, helping you build “mental muscle” to work towards your business goals.
Ever feel like you come within arms reach of what you want and fall short? You may have an “upper limits” problem. This book provides the tools and framework to make the big leap towards your dreams, goals, and once and for all, create the results you want to achieve in your business life.
Now it’s your turn (and a chance to win all 7 books!):
What is your favorite book that has revolutionized your business, or an inner game book that has shifted your mindset? Let me know in the comments below. One lucky winner will be chosen at random and will get all 7 books listed above! Contest Ends Thursday, September 6th at midnight PT.
UPDATE*** Congrats to Leslie Nolan, our lucky winner! ***
Wow! Thank you for sharing with us your personal top of best marketing and business books! I cant wait to read all!
Thanks.
PS. Let me add – Appreciate your tips, Bill! Thanks! Some more books to buy & dive into … or hope to win. 🙂
Hi Bill,
My big turn-around book was “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill (the Original version, restored by Ross Cornwell). A classic I have read many times and return to now and then. It holds so much wisdom, so many gold nuggets. Each time I read it you pick up something new or something valuable I needed to be reminded of.
Other books which have meant a lot to me and my business are “Psycho-Cybernetics 2000” by Maxwell Maltz Foundation & B. Sommer, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven Covey and a small unknown book by Genevieve Behrend “Your Invisible Power”. If you haven´t read it, pick it up! A must for every business owner and for your personal life!!!
Warmly,
Eva
You Can Heal Yourself. By Louise Hay.
This book is about mindset but it applies to anything and everything. Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and comments. You’re all awesome 🙏🏼
Thank you for this list! I look forward to adding them to my reading list. Currently reading 2 great books: High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard and I’m doing the course as well: excellent for clarity, focus, motivation and productivity and the Go Giver by Bob Burg: you always receive more than you give.
From Good to Great.
Love the ‘Hedgehog’ dynamic. Keeping it simple, and being consistent to get that wheel turning. Breakthrough does not happen miraculously…. Success is in all of the little move forward.
My current read is High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard. It is an amazing book that helps me dig deep into what drives me and how I need to show up to excel. This is by far my favourite book because it gives actionable steps and doesn’t just talk at you.
My favourite and most impactfull book for shaping, protecting and monitoring the effect of my present mind while teaching me the importance of changing my thoughts to allow every cell in my body to contribute to the needed function of meaningful actions of health and wealth physically THE BIOLOGY OF BELIEF. This will change your life, health and any acts of faith. Because every thing starts in faith. Things are so connected!!!.
I like the book Get Clients now by CJ Hayden.I want to learn more bout marketing and i want it use in my online business.
My journal. Whatever book I am reading (practical or inspirational), I save the best insights in my journal. But it doesn’t end there. I also use my journal to process information, to generate new ideas, to express my doubts and fears to create a new mindset, to focus on the stage I am in now while planning for my future. Without my journal, little of what I read would linger let alone change anything because, ultimately, I create my own change and it’s in my journal I define the changes I am creating from day to day.
Wow Bill, this is a great list, thanks for sharing! And I love the other ideas coming in from others too….more book reading now scheduled.
I have a huge collection of business books, read over many years, but it was only recently that I was recommended The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert. Halbert was reckoned to be one of the best copywriters – his sales through copy have generated billions. This book is fascinating for much more than copywriting. It is a series of letters written to his son whilst he was in California’s Boron Federal Prison Camp and there are true nuggets of gold in there about business, life and selling. As a sceptical British chap I am not easily swayed – I love the book and the rich content. An easy read too.
Thanks for the ongoing wisdom 🙂
Peter
Yes, so many new books are published daily…it”s really a challenge to choose among them. Loved two books in particular: a. Mind Gym ( G. Mack & D. Casstevens) ,
b. Get Clients Now ( C.J. Hayden ).
The first one ( Mind Gym ) appeals to me the most as I’m a Personal Trainer And a Resilience Coach… I read a friend’s book as it is unavailable to me here.
Any chance to get it….for my birthday ? ( 3 days ago )….? Tks.
The one book that changed my transition from a full time school Teacher to that of an Authorpreneur is the book,
‘ Light Is the New Black’ by Rebecca Campbell.
My favorite book for motivating and persuading people to buy from you – which allows you to double or perhaps triple your sales – is a book about mind control.
Mind control is simply the process of using natural human predispositions to break down the defense barriers that become obstacles in the sales process.
In his book, “Psychological Triggers”, Joe Sugarman gives you 30 advanced psychological tactics (known as “triggers”) that allows you to get into the mind of your customer/prospect, activate psychological forces buried deep within their subconscious mind, and causes them to buy whatever you’re selling without any resistance.
As part of my ongoing psychology (inner game) education, I spend 15 minutes a day reviewing one of the triggers from this fascinating book. And, I strongly recommend you do the same.
I’m so grateful for this list of books to enjoy as I’m taking imperfect action to serve my tribe and receive my treasures. I really enjoyed “The Big Leap” and began to follow Gay Hendricks afterwards, reading the regular blog posts has been a real source of inspiration in my marriage relationship and beyond. My number one favorite book that has revolutionized my inner game and inspired me to think bigger about life and business is “The Magical Path” by Marc Allen. He shares the most wonderful stories of self-realization through the use of practical, time tested techniques for transforming life from the inside out. I listen snippets of it on Audible almost every day and allow it to expand my mind.
The one book that has shaped my outlook is Outliers – The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell was able to skillfully weaved surveys, case studies, the lives and experiences of prominent (as well as less prominent) persons and statistics to show that success is half a product of opportunity meeting preparation as well as the effect of chance – time and unforeseen occurrences – in our lives. I called it the Ecclesiastes 9:11 bearing on preparation meeting opportunity!
The One Thing by Gary Keller. What’s the key process input that without which nothing gets done or made. Maybe it’s just getting out of bed in the morning. Maybe it’s having that conversation with your partner that takes you to the next level. Or maybe it’s just admitting that you do not want to do this task. What must be done to accomplish your dreams.
One of my favorite books is Letting Go-The Pathway of Surrender, by David Hawkins. It has been a blessing in my life and has taught me how to be in a state of peace and love most of the time.
My transforming book is Sell 100+ Homes A Year by Krista Mashore. As I implement the systems and ideas my listings and closed home sakes increase.
Hi Bill
Great idea for a competition!
I was prescribed this book once by a psychologist. It’s really great for helping to sort your inner game out and delivers life lessons in really easy to read ways. Richard Bach’s ‘Illusions – The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah’ is short but needs to be considered as you go through it and includes one of my most favourite and used quotes ‘Argue for your limitations and sure enough they’ll be yours’
I hope you’ve never read this so you get to explore it with fresh eyes!
Thanks for the ongoing inspiration
Cheers
Emma
The one book that changed everything for me and really got me started on my personal development story and ultimately starting my own business is The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy.
My favorite book is number 1 on your list. Get Clients Now by CJ Hayden. My copy has been so used, and lent out, and used again that it is dogeared. I have been using that book for something like 14 or 15 years and it has totally shaped my approach to marketing across multiple businesses. When I launched a private practice as a psychotherapist, I had already been using her book for years in my bodywork practice. So I just transferred the skills. My practice was full with a waiting list within 6 months, and I never looked back. I’m now in my 8th year in private practice, and I’ve never had a question about my ability to keep my practice full, thanks to CJ’s book. My number 2 is also the same as on your list. But I digress… Thanks for these recommendations!
Hi!
I highly recommend “You are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth” by Jen Sincero.
THE SALES BIBLE by JEFFREY GITOMER. SIMPLE, EASY TO UNDERSTAND, GREAT IDEAS.
My favourite book – so far- is Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection. As an perfectionist – I had a few big AHA’s from this book! I recommend it to everyone – clients, friends, fellow health enthusiasts. The most meaningful phrase in the book for me is “It is the process of embracing our imperfections that we find our truest gifts: courage, compassion and connection”
The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients by Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin
Intuitive Eating A Revolutionary Program that Works by Evelyn Tribole
My favourite book for changing my inner game is The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris. Not anything to do with business but has been an eye opener or should I say mind opener for me.
One of my favorite “mind game” books: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen. I drew and framed his diagram and it hangs over my desk to remind me to take action every day
My latest favourite book for life and business is Tosha Silver’s Outrageous Openness. It’s a quick read about staying in our Spiritual connection in all areas of life. Especially helpful for me in my business. She’s funny, pithy, poignant, and totally on point. It’s so easy to get distracted and ‘disconnected’ in our busy business and personal lives. Tosha’s book keeps me connected, inspired and in action – even when I’m resisting myself.
And thanks so much for the book suggestions Bill! Much appreciated.
One of my current favorites is “High Performance Habits” by Brendon Burchard. I also love “The Big Leap”. I’ve learned that the best business strategies are useless if you have the inner unsupportive beliefs that you can’t be successful in business.
Compound Interest By Darren Hardy has in influenced the way I do business.