Being a young entrepreneur is all fun and games until you realize that you’re actually younger than everybody.
Your knowledge might not be at the same level as those who’ve been in the business for twenty years and that scares you. No need to worry though, if you have a high teachability index, you will be fine! The list below of books for young entrepreneurs is designed to help you grow both in life and in business in order to become a successful entrepreneur.
The list provides books that will give you basic knowledge about being an entrepreneur but also share advice on what happens while on the journey to entrepreneurial success.
1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
This book is guaranteed to change your life forever. Not only will it teach you all the do’s and don’ts of the social life, but it will also teach you how to be a better entrepreneur. We all know that the digital age has made it harder to be influential outside of the Internet, which is just as important as web influence, but Dale Carnegie breaks down all the steps you need to take in order to make friends with everyone you meet. It teaches you the etiquette of how to overcome competition or how to win over people who are close-minded or simply not interested in your pitch. Every young entrepreneur needs to read this book at least once a year, it’s a business classic!
2. The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy
Every entrepreneur knows that the key to a good business is good sales technique. Not only do you have to sell your product, but you also have to sell yourself and your idea. Having a great product doesn’t do anything if you don’t know how to approach the person and make them fall in love with you and the product. This book by Brian Tracy gives you valuable information and strategies about how to make more selling by focusing on one thing – the person. Young entrepreneurs tend to forget the basics of selling and jump right over to getting results, but in order to get results, you need to know the basics. Brian Tracy goes over those major points thoroughly.
3. Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson
With only 96 pages of wisdom, this book is an easy weekend read. Featuring four mice – Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw – the story goes over the four different personalities and how they can affect one’s business. This book will enlighten all young businesspeople on themselves and the choices they make in life. It will teach you how to become flexible with your decisions in order to move forward confidently towards your dreams and goals. At the end of the book, it’s recommended to draw a map and position yourself between the four mice, at the personality type that best fits your own. If you are within a type that will most likely keep you from succeeding in business, do something.
4. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Another great read for every young entrepreneur. When you are younger in age, financial education might not be as high as the older competition, which puts you in a place of vulnerability. Robert Kiyosaki’s book breaks down everything you need to know about financial education without giving you a headache. The book will shine a light on the 9-5 job and the rat race that keeps you in that job you hate in order to pay the debts. He teaches you how to make your entrepreneurial dreams come true by giving you the cold, hard truth about wealth – it’s not found by going to school, getting good grades, graduating with a diploma, and working for a secure company.
5. Rich Woman by Kim Kiyosaki
All women unite! Again, young entrepreneurs don’t have the financial education that most older entrepreneurs tend to have, which is why reading books on financials education is key to succeeding! Kim Kiyosaki takes on the challenge to inform women everywhere about the power of money and how they can get a piece of that too. She empowers women to learn about their finances to make sure that they don’t depend on men for the rest of their lives. She teaches women from all ages on how to create a budget, invest in real estate, stocks or businesses, and how to use the financial knowledge you have – the one they don’t teach you in school – to become wealthy and independent.
6. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman goes over the two systems found in our mind, that can make or break our ability to move forward and succeed in life, in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow. He talks about the fast and emotional system, and the slow, more logical system that makes up our whole mind. He breaks down the various effects of each system on our success, mentality, confidence, and teachability index. Young entrepreneurs where raised in a fast environment, this book is a must-read for everyone who wants to get to the top of the tower without actually killing the dragon.
7. The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman
It’s time to get inside the mind of LinkedIn’s co-founder and chairman, Reid Hoffman, and learn more about the keys to managing your career as if you were already an entrepreneur. It’s possible that you are still working a part-time job while you’re growing your business and it might be hard to stay focused on your entrepreneurial life while you still have to answer to a boss, but Reid Hoffman is here to help. In his book, he teaches you how to put yourself in the entrepreneurial mindset even if you’re still working for someone else. This will help you think like an entrepreneur at all times, which will motivate you to continue on your venture no matter what. At the same time, you will know what to look for in employees when your business becomes big enough to employ people. Win-Win.
8. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
Who hasn’t heard of Timothy Ferriss? His name has been everywhere since he launched in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Nowadays, everyone is looking for that easy fix, and becoming an entrepreneur is all about enjoying the wonders of life without having to work 40 hours a week. Timothy knows that and therefore puts you in the right mindset to start building a business that will allow you to work not 20, not 10, but 4 hours a week and still build a fortune.
9. The $100 Startup by Chris Gillebeau
This is a very interesting book for anyone who feels unmotivated because they lack funds. You might be just out of College, or still in school and feeling unmotivated because of your lack of funds, but Chris turns the tables around and gives you the upper hand. In his book, he talks about 50 of the most amazing success stories of entrepreneurs who are making more than $50,000 and who started with only a few bucks in their bank accounts. This is the perfect book to motivate you to move forward without focusing on the money or the HOW. Get the idea, have the passion, and the rest will follow.
10. Click Millionaires by Scott Fox
The Internet is taking over the world with more e-commerce businesses opening than ever before. Scott Fox focuses his words on how to combine outsourcing and automated online marketing to build monthly cash-flow online. He thoroughly teaches you how to build an online business by going over all the tools that are available to you. It’s the perfect book to learn more about online business and how to utilize the software that’s been available to you since you were a baby.
