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Are you looking for the perfect business book?

Whether you’re just getting started, or are years into a thriving business, these business books can help you take your blog or business to the next level!

Flip the profit formula on its head, test your concept before you hit the market, and become a business rockstar. These are books that have supported my own growth this year, and I can’t recommend them highly enough!

These books are listed by category from money, marketing, productivity, general business and more!

Business Books

When it comes to organizing your finances, testing your ideas, and scaling, these business books have you covered!

Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz

Conventional accounting uses the logical (albeit, flawed) formula: Sales – Expenses = Profit. The problem with this is that your profit ends up being last on the list and your business can suffer!

In Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine, serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz has developed a behavioral approach to accounting to flip the formula: Sales – Profit = Expenses.

>Just as the most effective weight loss strategy is to limit portions by using smaller plates, Michalowicz shows that by taking profit first and apportioning only what remains for expenses, entrepreneurs will transform their businesses from cash-eating monsters to profitable cash cows.

Built to Sell, by John Warrillow>

Most business owners started their company because they wanted more freedom. But according to John Warrillow, most owners find that stepping out of the picture is extremely difficult.

Why? Because generally speaking, our businesses rely too heavily on our personal involvement. But the good new is that entrepreneurs can take specific steps—no matter what stage a business is in—to create a valuable, sellable company!

In the book, Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You, Warrillow shows exactly what it takes to create a solid business that can thrive long into the future.

Will It Fly? by Pat Flynn

Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money, from Pat Flynn who is my mentor, provides action-based examples, small-scale litmus tests, and real-world case studies for business. His book helps ensure that you properly vet your idea before you spend your hard-earned time and money.

A lack of proper validation kills more businesses than anything else! Pat’s book is the business flight manual you never had to transform your part of a plan into a business that takes off and soars.

The Ultimate Sales Machine, by Chet Holmes and Jay Conrad Levinson

Chet Holmes helps his clients blow away both the competition and their own expectations. And his advice starts with one simple concept: focus!

Instead of trying to master four thousand strategies to improve your business, zero in on the few essential skill areas that make the big difference.

The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies shows you how to pump up virtually every part of your business by spending just an hour per week on each impact area you want to improve?

This book covers it all: sales, marketing, management, and more!

Ask, by Ryan Levesque

Whether you ‘re an aspiring Internet entrepreneur, advanced online marketer, or established business owner, this book will both inspire and show you how to skyrocket your online income!

You’ll be able to create a mass of raving fans in the process, simply by asking the right questions in a surprisingly different way.

For people looking to scale up their business, Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Method to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy…Create a Mass of Raving Fans…and Take Any Business to the Next Level, will utterly transform how you think about consumer behavior and selling online!

Marketing Books

I can attest: these books have REVOLUTIONIZED the way I talk about what I do, and have gotten me and my team real results for my business!

I could call these the three pillars of marketing books: they have helped me get clients, keep clients, and make sales FOR my clients.

My team and me literally use these lessons! Every. Single. Day.

Building a StoryBrand, by Donald Miller

Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, process is a proven solution to getting clear on your message and your audience!

This has been INVALUABLE to my team, clients, and students for creating copy for our Facebook and Instagram ads. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services!

Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching readers the seven universal story points all humans respond to, plus:

• The real reason customers make purchases
• How to simplify a brand message so people understand it
• How to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media.

Exactly What to Say, by Phil M. Jones

Often the decision between a customer choosing you over someone like you is your ability to know exactly what to say, when to say it, and how to make it count.

Phil M. Jones has trained more than two million people across five continents and over 50 countries in the lost art of spoken communication. In Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact, Phil delivers the tactics you need to get more of what you want.

The great thing about this book is that you can read it in just a couple hours (or listen to the audiobook!). Now there’s no excuse not to figure out exactly what to say!

How to Write Copy That Sells, by Ray Edwards

Writing copy that sells without seeming “salesy” can be tough. But as you know, it’s an essential business skill, especially when you’re creating high-converting Facebook ads or Instagram ads.

How to Write Copy That Sells: The Step-By-Step System for More Sales, to More Customers, More Often, is a step-by-step guide to writing fast, easy-to-read, effective copy. It’s for everyone who needs to write copy that brings in cash —  including copywriters, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.

Money and Mindset Books

I started my online career blogging about my family’s journey to get out of debt. So talking about money is one of my favorite things!

One big factor in your financial future is your mindset. Whether you’re still on your own journey to live debt free, or you’re fine-tuning your money making machine, these authors offer some great advice for getting your head straight about making the big bucks!

Manage Your Money to Become Debt Free, by Aja McClanahan

Are you tired of living from paycheck to paycheck? Do you want the money you earn to stay in your pocket instead of making the banks richer while you get poorer?

Then, you are ready to dump debt once and for all. In this money mindset book, you’ll get a clear, concise plan for dumping debt now!

Thanks to Manage Your Money to Become Debt Free: A Guide to Dumping Debt for Good, Aja McClanahan, has helped thousands find their way out of debt — for good! She also happens to be a graduate of my signature course, Flourish with Facebook Ads, as well as a dear friend of mine.

This is her first book, and I am excited to share it with you! To read more about Aja, check out her Facebook ads success story!

You Are a Badass At Making Money, by Jen Sincero

You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth, will launch you past the fears and stumbling blocks that have kept financial success beyond your reach.

Drawing on her own personal money transformation, Jen Sincero explains how she went from a woman living in a converted garage with tumbleweeds blowing through her bank account to traveling the world in style!

Also the author of the bestseller, You Are a Badass>, she combines hilarious personal essays with bite-size, concepts that unlock earning potential and get real results! If you’re struggling with reaching that next level of business or financial gain, then this book is for you!

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich is the seminal work by the well-loved and world-renowned Napoleon Hill, a contemporary of Dale Carnegie. Originally published in 1937, Hill’s money-making secrets are as powerful today as they were then — and can change your life forever!

After interviewing more than 500 of the most affluent men and women of his time, Hill uncovered the secret to great wealth, based on the notion that if we can learn to think like the rich, we can discover wealth and success.

Rich Habits, by Tom Corley

In Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals, Tom Corley provides a step-by-step financial success program that is concise and easy-to-understand! No matter your age, education or income level you’ll be able to apply his tips to your finances.

In these tough economic times, individuals are struggling financially and desperately looking for help in achieving financial success. With Rich Habits the secret to financial success possessed by only the wealthiest individuals, are revealed!

Get Rich, Lucky Bitch! by Denise Duffield-Thomas

In Get Rich, Lucky Bitch: Release Your Money Blocks and Live a First-Class Life, you’ll learn how to unlock your hidden potential for abundance and upgrade your life forever.

Join author Denise Duffield-Thomas on a journey of self-discovery for financial success! You’ll be able to smash through your abundance blocks and join a community of women all around the world who are learning to live large and become truly lucky bitches.

Productivity, Goals, and Life Books

What ties these self-improvement books together? Being your own boss is a delicate balance of hustle, self-care and work-life balance. That’s what these books will help you achieve!

Like so many of us, I strive to do more with my life and these books are some of the best. I hope these truly transformative books will help you find the future you’re seeking!

Tribe Mentors, by Timothy Ferriss

Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, shares the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure book. Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World, is a compilation of tools, tactics, and habits from 130+ of the world’s top performers.

From iconic entrepreneurs to elite athletes, from artists to billionaire investors, their short profiles can help you answer life’s most challenging questions, achieve extraordinary results, and transform your life!

The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J Schwartz, PhD.

I love coming up with big goals! Every year I take time to plan ahead and shoot for some big goals, both personally and professionally (and financially!).

Through The Magic of Thinking Big, you’ll be able to find success and change your mindset about thinking big! Achieve everything you always wanted: financial security, power and influence, the ideal job, satisfying relationships, and a rewarding, happy life.

Set your goals high…then exceed them!

The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

In The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, you’ll learn how finally prioritize and focus on what’s important!

Thanks to this book, you’ll be able to:

• Cut through the clutter
• Achieve better results in less time
• Build momentum toward your goal
• Dial down the stress
• Overcome that overwhelmed feeling
• Revive your energy
• Stay on track
• And master what matters to you.

The ONE Thing can help deliver extraordinary results in every area of your life — work, personal, family, and spiritual.

Scrum, by Jeff Sutherland and J.J. Sutherland

For those who believe that there must be a more agile and efficient way for people to get things done, you need to check out Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland.

This book is a brilliantly discursive, thought-provoking book about the leadership and management process that is changing the way we live!

Those are my top recommendations for the best holiday business books to add to your list this year! Do you have another recommendation? My team and I looooove finding new resources and books to read.

Share your book recommendations in the comments below!