Below is a selection of the best self help books for entrepreneurs that were penned by some of the most influential people in the start-up scene. To be a successful entrepreneur requires one’s art and science let alone a lot of talent, skill, luck, and knowledge to make it in the big world of business. There is no blueprint for success as an entrepreneur, but what one ought to do is to sit down and read what some of these successful individuals say regarding entrepreneurship.
Some of these best self help books for entrepreneurs reflect on their lives thus you can have a good way of gaining some insight and inspiration through taking this kind of information from many business gurus that have made the effort to distil some of the guiding principles at hand.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey
This milestone book is at the top of many entrepreneurs’ lists of must-read material, and for good reason. A businessman, teacher, public speaker, and author, Covey became famous and respected around the world for the indispensable business advice contained in this and other books.
In The Seven Habits, Covey summarizes seven holistic principles focusing on topic of independence, interdependence, and continuous improvement that he sees as elementary to achieving one’s goals in the world of business as well as life itself. With over fifteen million copies sold, Covey’s innermost message – that a paradigm shift is necessary to activate these principles in one’s life – has hit home with a great number of people worldwide.
Losing My Virginity – Richard Branson
He is one of the world’s most successful and well-known entrepreneurs, having spent twenty-five years creating and growing highly popular brands in a number of different market sectors, from airlines to record labels.
In this autobiography of his business life, Branson details the strategies and personal principles that took him from being a business ‘Virgin’ to one of the wealthiest men on the planet. Perhaps the most inspiring part of his story is that he found success within markets in which there existed stiff competition from the start, and encourages others to do the same.
Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson
Another account of one of the great entrepreneurs of our time (albeit not written in his own words), this biography of Steve Jobs is a motivation to any budding businessperson looking to attain his level of success.
Scrupulously written by Isaacson, a former executive at both CNN and Time, and based on hundreds of interviews with Jobs himself as well as those around him, the book portrays the way in which Jobs’ intense personality and inventive imagination united to guarantee his great success – and provides an instructive message on how others can use the same abilities to their advantage.
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
Hill’s Think and Grow Rich is one of the bestselling success books of all time (with over seventy million copies sold since its publication in 1937), Think and Grow Rich asks the question: what makes a winner?
The author was one of the earliest writers of the ‘self-help’ genre, and drew on philosophies both old and new, as well as some of the millionaires of his generation such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, to answer this question. His ‘Law of Success’ is an enduring principle that continues to provide an answer to this question even today.
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Carnegie was another writer of the 1930s who put in a lot to the development of the self-improvement genre, and whose work and philosophies keep on inspiring and informing similar works today. In this book, Dale focuses on the essential role of communication and relationship building on the road to success, in business as in life.
Carnegie believed that the most important message of his book lay in the value of making people feel appreciated and important rather than aiming to manipulate them.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t – Jim Collins
Collins is one of the leading experts on businesses and how to grow them, and put more than a decade of research into answering the question posed by the title of this, his most successful book.
For entrepreneurs who are just starting out in the business world, the book offers valuable insight into the big-thinking world of big business, and contains a useful message on how to change your mindset to think in this way from the start.
Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki
Kiyosaki’s personal history plays a pivotal role in the development of a business philosophy that draws influence from his two fathers, each of whom came from very different socioeconomic backgrounds. In this captivating book on finance, he addresses many myths surrounding wealth, while also highlighting the significance of passing on this kind of knowledge to your children in order to ensure their success as well. Possibly the most fascinating message he puts across is that it’s not essential to have a high income in order to become wealthy.
Awaken the Giant Within – Anthony Robbins
Robbins is famous for his charisma and is a motivational speaker and a leader in the field of personal improvement; this book has a great deal of his most effective strategies for mastering your own life and business, as well as step-by-step techniques for doing so. The core of his beliefs lies in the idea that mastering the self is a necessary first step along this pathway.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – David Allen
Allen is a knowledgeable management consultant and corporate coach who convey his understanding of the often-stressful world of business to bear in this extremely practical book.
In Getting Things Done, David explains a variety of techniques, such as delegation, planning, and management of emotions that help to clear the mind and trim down stress. His central message boils down to a simple concept: that “we are more productive when relaxed.”
The Magic of Thinking Big – David J. Schwartz
Schwartz is regarded as one of the world’s leading professional on motivation, Dr Schwartz is notorious for his practical philosophies on life and business, many of which are enclosed in this book. In The Magic of Thinking Big, Schwartz concentrates on the fundamental message that mindset, rather than talent or intellect, is the most important aspect in attaining success.
The book intends to assist readers appreciate the habit of thought and behavior that can improve to support this way of thinking.