In no particular order, we have compiled a list of what we consider to be ten of the best books released during 2009. These books should be in the library of every small business owner and entrepreneur, as they often represent straight shooting, pertinent and timely tips or solutions. While a lot of the material that you might pick up from these books may be considered to be “for the ages,” bear in mind that you should be constantly reading and picking up as much information as you can to help you develop your business right here, right now as well as for the long-term.
Greening Your Small Business: How to Improve Your Bottom Line, Grow Your Brand, Satisfy Your Customers – and Save the Planet
Make no mistake about it, your business is not immune from growing societal trends. As the new year unfolds we can see that plenty of attention is being given to critical climate talks in Copenhagen and the drama unfolding there is just the tip of the iceberg. Major governments, US included, are likely to introduce stringent legislation to force companies to become sustainable. While the focus may well be on larger organizations, today’s consumer is becoming increasingly picky. Don’t look at “green” as being a fad, anymore and pick up some ideas here, tailored to the way that you do business.
How Did That Happen?: Holding People Accountable for Results the Positive, Principled Way
We all need to be accountable and your business cannot operate unless you have layers of accountability established, laid out expectations and have a system in place to manage when things go wrong. We have seen in graphic detail what can happen when there is no system in place and a lack of accountability. We all need to take a lesson from the Great Recession and make sure that we don’t repeat those disasters, albeit on a smaller scale, within our own businesses.
Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
It’s all in the title. To be successful within the brave new world of social media, you must build trust. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to change your conventional way of thinking and befriend your potential clients, before you ask them to buy from you. There’s no hard sell in the social media environment and this book will help you to unravel the mysteries, change your mindset and profit from an involvement in social media.
Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves
If you ever feel that you need a spark of inspiration, reach for this book from your shelf and see how others have achieved viral success through an inspired campaign. To many social media marketers, “going viral” is a dream, if not an objective. It takes a clever way of thinking and also a certain mindset. Train your mindset with gems from this book.
Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self
The author has an underlying message for the stressed out entrepreneur – don’t panic. This enlightened book includes 52 practical lessons from the sharp end of the business world. Essentially he talks about preparation, allowing you to prevent problems rather than come up with solutions and notes that the difference between a crisis and opportunity is when you learn about it.
Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success–and Won’t Let You Fail by Keith Ferrazzi
Have you ever heard the saying – you are who you associate with? This is particularly true in small business and you should make sure that you have a team of mentors available to you. It is very difficult to be effective in small business sometimes, especially if you are responsible for virtually every aspect of the enterprise. By strategically selecting some experts to help you, you can become a winner in your field of endeavor. The author helps you set “dramatic and more powerful” goals, replace “yes men” with people who will really cause you to stop and think and to reach out to others for best effect.
Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
This highly rated book pushes you to take that action – you know you should be doing it and you really need to do it, right now. It has become a lot easier to make an impact in any niche and to help build a following for your interest, propelling your business forward. Don’t expect a lot of “how-to” technicalities here, but do expect a lot of good and solid reasoning telling you why you have to engage, proactively. Believe in what you believe in and go out and claim your piece of the pie.
Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities! (Think and Grow Rich)
If you could see that you were actually three feet away from a block of gold, would you be more inspired to move forward and touch it? You might be just out of sight of this treasure, but be unable to make those all-important few steps forward due to preconceived notions, a lack of belief in yourself or any number of external pressures and thought processes. What is truly holding you back from being successful? Proponents of the power of positive thinking, including the authors, advocate that you are your biggest obstacle to success. It doesn’t matter if you are technically proficient in your niche if you are unable to master your own internal demons. Many advocate that any barriers may be overcome if you have a positive frame of mind. Charge up your way of thinking here.
Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur
Sir Richard is quite possibly the most famous self-made man and entrepreneur of our times. His is a household name and most often linked to his beloved Virgin Airways. Can you believe that he has founded seven distinct billion-dollar organizations? This by itself is reason to pour yourself into this book and try and pick up on some of his golden touches, but when the style of delivery is as engaging and charismatic as the man himself, then this is sure to be a worthy read for you. Branson tells us how he has learned from some of the best world and business leaders and gives his view on the challenges facing the businessman within this uncertain economic future.
Kidpreneurs: Young Entrepreneurs With Big Ideas!
Think of all the skills required to be a successful entrepreneur and how engaging in this style of life makes you a very well rounded individual. Now you can see why the authors advocate introducing your kids to these approaches at a young age. Kids have great ideas and a level of enthusiasm that we adults struggle to replicate sometimes. Combine these two traits together and help them to explore other ideas that might come together to represent profitable ventures. Nurture their ideas for products and services that may actually bring solutions to the market and fill a need. Help your budding Sir Richard Branson understand what it takes to venture into the world of the entrepreneur and develop those people skills, so necessary for success as they grow up.
Read any good books lately?
Adam Toren
Yes, I read Startup Success by Rieva Lesonsky and Ronan Keane. It covers a bunch of Web 2.0 sites entrepreneurs can use to run their business. Many of the sites are free or charge a couple of $ per month. Well worth reading.
Jon Gordon published both “Training Camp” and “The Shark and the Goldfish” in 2009. I view them as an important contribution because of the “you can do it” message and the way it’s delivered. It’s been a very tough year. It’s been tough even for people who have personally had a great year because a feeling human being can’t help but be affected by pain felt by others. A whole lot of people felt a whole lot of pain in 2009 and Jon Gordon, ever so gently, but firmly, gave us hope and the knowledge that we can make it. That’s a good message in any year, but one that was desperately needed in 2009. Other top books not yet mentioned are “Six Pixels of Separation” by Mitch Joel, “Exploiting Chaos” by Jeremy Gutsche, and “Inbound Marketing” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. Another great book from early in the year was “It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose” by Roy M. Spence Jr. Michael Port’s “The Think Big Manifesto” got a bit windy but it had the power to push ordinary people to do extraordinary things by making them ask, “really!!, why not me?” I also loved Bill Glazer’s “Outrageous Advertising” because you can’t help but think of things for your own business. Seth Godin, while being interviewed by John Jantsch, pointed out that most of us are not only boring, but are boring by design. I’m tired of being boring! I’m ready for a bit of the outrageous and Bill delivers!
Hey thanks! I’m so happy that you included me in the list. I loved BUSINESS STRIPPED BARE. I wrote all over that book. There are notes on every few pages.
I think Joy’s list in your comments is pretty decent, too. : )
@chris Jones: Thanks for your comment. I have made a note to add Startup Success to my reading list.
@Joy Johnson: Great list! Added them to the reading list! Appreciate the detailed comment!
@Chris Brogan: Thanks for the comment! You truly nailed it with Trust Agents and we continue to refer many Entrepreneurs to your book! All the best in 2010!
-Adam Toren