78 Must-Reads For Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

Sushmita Kerketta
5 min readMar 5, 2023
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Success leaves its footprints behind. Books are such pieces which very well preserve the impressions of a successful person and their success. An Entrepreneur on the go needs to be skilled, have polished thoughts and actions, be pre-cautious to upcoming risks and defy apparent errors.

Such qualities come with experience and the quality of knowledge piled up from various sources. Reading books can compensate for the output of hard-learned experiences and make an entrepreneur or a business owner fully prepared.

A carefully selected reading list is here for you —

  1. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

2. Tough times never last, but tough people do — Robert H. Schuller

3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

4. The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy

5. Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your

6. Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

7. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter

7. The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman

8. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

9. The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

10. Click Millionaires by Scott Fox

11. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

12. Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

13. The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Gillebeau

14. The Entrepreneur Mind by Kevin D. Johnson

15. Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder

16. My Philosophy for Successful Living by Jim Rohn

17. Life Matters: Creating a Dynamic Balance of Work, Family, Time, & Money

18. Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life

19. Creative Calling

20. Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life by Marie Kondo

21. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Amelia Nagoski, DMA

22. Make the Right Choice: Creating a Positive, Innovative and Productive Work Life by Joel Zeff
23. Decision-making Principles by Ray Dalio

24. Smart Choices by John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa

25. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

26. The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz

27. Yes or No by Spencer Johnson

28. The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli

29. Grit by Angela Duckworth

30. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

31. Leaders by General Stanley McChrystal, Jeff Eggers, and Jason Mangone

32. Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World by Rand Fishkin

33. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

34. Best for Women: Million Dollar Women by Julia Pimsleur

35. Best for Female Entrepreneurs: Women Who Launch

36. Best for Kids: Kidpreneurs by Adam Toren and Matthew Toren

37. Starting a Business in 2021? Here you go

38. Solving the People Problem: Essential Skills You Need to Lead and Succeed in Today’s Workplace by Brett M. Cooper and Evans Kerrigan

39. Courage to Lose Sight of Shore: How to Partner with Private Equity to Grow Your Business with Confidence by Kelley W. Powell

40. Own Your Career, Own Your Life: Stop Drifting and Take Control of Your Future by Andy Storch

41. Move Fast. Break Shit. Burn Out: The Catalyst’s Guide to Working Well by Tracey Lovejoy and Shannon Lucas

42. More Good Jobs: An Entrepreneur’s Action Plan to Create Change in Your Community by Martin Babinec

43. A CEO Only Does Three Things: Finding Your Focus in the C-Suite by Trey Taylor

44. Get Rooted!: Growing People and Companies Through Change by Stacy Henry

45. The Extraordinary UnOrdinary You: Follow Your Own Path, Discover Your Own Journey by Simone Knego

46.Best for Mastering Social Media: Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

47. Best for Mindset: The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco

48. Best for Introverts: The Introvert Entrepreneur by Beth Buelow

49. Best if You’re Hurting for Cashflow: The Power of Broke

50. Best for Determining to Move Forward: Will It Fly by Pat Flynn

51. Solving the People Problem: Essential Skills You Need to Lead and Succeed in Today’s Workplace by Brett M. Cooper and Evans Kerrigan

52. Courage to Lose Sight of Shore: How to Partner with Private Equity to Grow Your Business with Confidence by Kelley W. Powell

53. Own Your Career, Own Your Life: Stop Drifting and Take Control of Your Future by Andy Storch

54. Move Fast. Break Shit. Burn Out: The Catalyst’s Guide to Working Well by Tracey Lovejoy and Shannon Lucas

55. More Good Jobs: An Entrepreneur’s Action Plan to Create Change in Your Community by Martin Babinec

56. A CEO Only Does Three Things: Finding Your Focus in the C-Suite by Trey Taylor

57. Get Rooted!: Growing People and Companies Through Change by Stacy Henry

58. The Extraordinary UnOrdinary You: Follow Your Own Path, Discover Your Own Journey by Simone Knego

59. Best for Mastering Social Media: Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

60. Best for Mindset: The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco

61. Best for Introverts: The Introvert Entrepreneur by Beth Buelow

62. Best if You’re Hurting for Cashflow: The Power of Broke

63. Best for Determining to Move Forward: Will It Fly by Pat Flynn

64. Best Overall: Will It Fly?

65. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World by Fareed Zakaria

66. The 5 Disciplines of Inclusive Leaders: Unleashing the Power of All of Us by Andrés T. Tapia and Alina Polonskaia

67. The Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps to Lift Your Leadership to New Heights by Douglas Conant

68. The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle

69. The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation by Carl Benedikt Frey

70. The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael Sandel

71. Where Good Ideas Come From The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson

72. The Nuclear Effect: The 6 Pillars of Building a 7+ Figure Online Business

73. Mentor to Millions: Secrets of Success in Business, Relationships, and Beyond

74. Big Money Energy: How to Rule at Work, Dominate at Life, and Make Millions

75. Powershift: Transform Any Situation, Close Any Deal, and Achieve Any Outcome

76. The Introvert’s Edge to Networking by Matthew Pollard

77. Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance by Erica Dhawan

78. You Are What You Risk: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World by Michele Wucker

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Sushmita Kerketta

A Doctoral Scholar of Mental Health and a pandemic-born writer with the soul of a philomath. I write about anything and everything that touches my life.