No matter where you’re at in the process of building, launching and growing your ecommerce business, sometimes a great business book is all you need to kickstart your motivation. All it takes, sometimes, is a fresh perspective or some new insight to set you on the right path again, and these are the best business books that have withstood the test of time and helped business owners turn from “wantrepreneurs” into entrepreneurs time and time again.
Whether you just need a new book to pick up or some in-depth learning on a certain subject, all the best business books we’ve rounded up in this post will not disappoint. Pick these business books up online, from your local bookshop, a library or even try listening to them on Audible so next time you have some downtime you can use it effectively by learning something new.
Without further ado, enjoy this roundup of the best business books of all time.
The End of Jobs: Money, Meaning and Freedom Without the 9-5
For those interested in learning more about why entrepreneurship is so important as we move into the future, this book explains how it is the safer, more accessible and more profitable choice. As we’re moving into an era where job security is becoming a thing of the past, university graduates have no job guarantees and seasoned workforce veterans are getting laid off after twenty years of service, it’s the innovative thinkers- the heretics- who will be rewarded with success moving forward. This book teaches about agency and how we have more control over our future than ever before and the gap between what feels safe versus what is safe. A great read for those starting out in entrepreneurship and are looking for a way to understand and articulate why it’s important to follow our passion.
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
If you want to be an indispensable part of your company or workforce this is the book for you. Anyone who has valuable ideas but holds them back due to habit or force will be taught in this book how to have confidence in the contributions we can all make and that we must not be held back by the “system”. In this book, you’ll learn what choices to make to become a Linchpin, someone who is an essential part of their chosen field, and how people are creating their own future. If you want the best jobs and the most freedom in your life, read this book to learn how to become indispensable.
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
An interesting read for business owners to learn more about why it’s important not to focus solely on the growth of your business but betterment of it as well. In this book you’ll go behind the scenes of fourteen privately held companies to investigate and learn how they’re achieving their business goals, creating great places to work and providing excellent customer service so they can become the best in their field, not necessarily the biggest. If you’re interested in learning about how other entrepreneurs are creating their companies and the choices that you can make for your own, this book will help you redefine the usual definition of success.
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
Do you want to be your own boss, work for yourself, have the freedom to do what you want and build the business you want to create? This book is all about that and how to do it just by doing it. You’ll learn how to live a life of meaning, adventure, and purpose while still making a living. This is a great read for the emerging entrepreneur who’s just learning the ropes and wants to read about how other’s started their start-ups from modest beginnings.
The Richest Man in Babylon
Told through a series of parables set in the ancient wealthy city of Babylon, this financial wisdom book lends its advice to both the emerging and seasoned entrepreneur to learn the philosophy behind financial planning and investment. In simple language and easily relatable stories, this book is suitable for those with little to no financial knowledge and is especially useful for those intimidated by their business’ financial position and want to know how to forecast for success.
The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime
Learn the honest, raw truth about what it takes to become a millionaire as this book cracks the codes and debunks the myths of what you’ve been told before about how the rich actually become rich. The philosophy of this book is more than just business and finance, it’s about having a certain lifestyle and mindset. This book will teach you the difference between the “slowlane” and the “fastlane” and what it’s like to do what you love for a living.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… And Others Don’t
The perfect book to enhance your management and leadership skills, this book teaches all about how to make a bad company better and a good company great. Learn from real businesses and case studies how management and leadership influence the success of a business and how to make adjustments and implementations in your own business. Perfect for those who want to up their game and make their businesses better starting from the top.
80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More
This book takes the old business adage that 20% of your customers create 80% of your business and the other 80% of your customers give you 20% of your business to a whole new level, explaining how and where to make adjustments within your business to earn more money without doing more work. This book is perfect for those who are numbers inclined or for those who simply want more financial success for their business. Enhance your marketing potential, not necessarily by developing new skills but by knowing where and how to use your skills in the most effective way possible.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
By learning the habits outlined in this book you’ll be able to effectively attain the goals you’ve set to lead a successful life. Labeled as a self-help and professional development book, the seven habits follow proven principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity to help solve personal problems and build a foundation for professional success. The habits are labeled as “Being Proactive,” “Begin With an End in Mind,” “Put First Things First,” “Think Win-Win,” “Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood,” “Synergize,” and “Sharpen the Saw” and offer different perspectives for how positive thought patterns can make you an effective and successful person.
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Contrary to other business books, this is book doesn’t teach you how to create the next best thing, it teaches you how to create the next unexpected thing. The next major invention won’t be competition for what’s already created because it will exist in its own category. In this book, you’ll learn how to learn about future progress in an innovative way starting by asking questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places. If you’ve already read plenty of business development books and are looking for something fresh and outside the box, this is the book to set your sights on.
Think and Grow Rich
Another advocate of positive thinking and persistence, this book has a thirteen-step philosophy for how to become financially successful. The thirteen steps- desire, faith, autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, organized planning, decision, persistence, power of the mastermind, the mystery of sex transmutation, the subconscious mind, the brain and the sixth sense- are all tools by which you can observe and manipulate within yourself to achieve long term goals. This is a good read for those who are money-oriented and are interested in learning the mental process behind financial fortune.
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
If you dream of escaping the rat race and living and working on your own terms this is a great first step. Reading this book will inspire you to live your life as you’ve only imagined you could and realize that it’s truly possible. You’ll learn about outsourcing your work, valuing performance over presence, how to travel without quitting your job, management secrets, how to work in short bursts to create mini-retirements and the difference between relative and absolute income. This book is for anyone sick of mundane life and wants to start living their dream life.
The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
What’s the one thing you can do to make everything else easier? This book is all about focusing your energy on the one thing and not letting distractions take up their time. You’ll learn how to identify what blocks your success and wastes your time so that you can achieve more by doing less. A great read for entrepreneurs starting out with many options and ideas that need to be focused in order to become an achievable goal. Learning how to be more efficient and productive, either in your personal or professional life, can help you lead a more successful and rewarding life.
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
Using the philosophy set out in this book start-ups can learn to avoid pitfalls and roadblocks such as project funding, expensive launches, and failures when introducing new products to the market. Through a process called validated learning that can be applied at the individual, team or company level, this book gives insight into how to approach your customers so you can shorten your product development cycles. A compelling read for those who want to waste less time and increase value from the start of a new project in order to avoid failure after launching.
The 48 Laws of Power
Recognized as a ruthless, cunning and instructive read, this book compiles knowledge and observations from thousands of years of individuals in power to bring you 48 tips and tricks for how to acquire the same sort of domination. This is the book to read if you’re looking to attract more power in either your personal or professional life and are looking for advice revolving around dominance and power. Definitely a book full of bold statements and messages that will teach you how to develop power, self-defense or learn the game of life.
Conclusion
There you have it, our roundup of the best business books of all time. Pick up a copy of any of the books that piqued your interest so you can get started reading and putting the information you learn into good use. All of these business books have key takeaways that will be relevant to most businesses so if you’re not sure where to start with this list of best business books, start anywhere!