Best books for Entrepreneurs

Have you ever read a business book that was so impactful, you can’t even remember (or don’t want to remember!) how you ever got by without your newly gained knowledge?

A couple of holiday parties ago (remember those pre-Covid, in-person parties?), I was chatting with the husband of one of my employees. He has a background in investment banking, an MBA from Harvard and currently works as the CFO of a dental acquisitions firm– and I was dyyyying to hear what he thought of what we should be doing differently at Teak & Twine.

After he kindly complimented me on our successes that year, I begged him to tell me even just one thing we could improve on.

“Wellllll, if you really want to know… we’ve noticed at work that all of the dental practices we purchase that are the best run and most profitably all use a system called Entrepreneurial Operating System,” he said. “Oh, and the ones that use the system completely are at the very top of the pile.”

I’d heard a little bit about the Entrepreneurial Operating System (commonly known as EOS) here and there, but it wasn’t until this conversation that I knew I NEEDED it.

I’d barely pulled into my driveway after that holiday party when I’d ordered the first book on my my list of top books for entrepreneurs:

Traction

I devoured that book.

Then we immediately adopted EOS at Teak & Twine, and I’ve gone back to Traction several times, as I apply more and more of it in my business. It’s helped me structure our team in a way that makes sense; think about our marketing plan in new ways; and most importantly, taught me how to set goals and break them down so they are actionable and achievable (seriously my favorite part!!).

No doubt Traction has a permanent place on my bookshelf, and it’s one of the handful of books I recommend over and over again to other entrepreneurs.

This is Marketing

Every single thing Seth Godin has ever written is pretty much mandatory reading, if you own a product-based business. He’s written so many books all about business and marketing and finding your ideal audience. But This is Marketing is truly one of my favorites. It’s really all-encompassing and touches on all of his greatest hits over the past many years. The main idea of the book is that the best marketing is based on a deep understanding of people and what they’re looking for and then empathetically creating things that are perfect for them.

While I recommend any of Seth Godin’s books, this is a great one to start with!

The Power of Habit

This book isn’t necessarily about business, but it’s one of those foundational books that’s going to make everything easier. It gives such interesting insights into habits, how important they are, how they develop and how we can intentionally develop better habits in our lives. I’ve already read The Power of Habit a couple of times, and I’ll surely re-visit it next time I need motivation!

No Rules Rules

And finally, a bonus read: No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer.

This book was written by the co-founders of Netflix. It’s one that I think you could read a little bit later in your business journey– maybe as your team is growing, which is exactly when I read it.

The book talks a lot about building the culture of a company, some rules you can establish as you grow and some things that Netflix does that are just completely different and weird and SUPER interesting.

I don’t think you’ll jump right to implementing every single thing you read about, but you’ll undoubtedly find some really great nuggets. If anything, this book shares a super unique perspective on how to run a business.

I’m always looking for a good read and would love to know which books you recommend– let me know in the comments!

xx,