5 Business Books For Start-up Business Owners

If you’re a young person (under 40) intending on setting up a business but don’t want to make the mistake 64% of new business owners make leading to failure in business then you’ll obviously need a guide to show you the path that leads to success and hence save yourself some potential losses from your business investment.

One way to go about this is to learn from experienced business owners and managers who have put their proven business knowledge in written form in books which green horns/rookies to business ownership can study and apply to save themselves the trouble that comes with trial and error.

Here are 5 books I recommend for young/inexperienced business owners to own:

1) Start your own Business

This book in its fifth edition contains practical business knowledge from over 30 years small business practice. It is the best selling business start up book of all time although that doesn’t prove its usefulness but millions of other readers who bought this book realize why it’s such a blessing to them. What you’ll learn when you study this include;

• How to find your exact target market
• Learn new creative ways to raise financing for startup and growth
• Use online resources to streamline your business plan
• Learn the secrets of successful marketing
• Discover digital and social media tools and how to use them
• Take advantage of hundreds of resources
• Receive vital forms, worksheets and checklists

2) The Personal MBA

An MBA degree is a highly priced investment for people seeking to pursue a career in business - many people would do almost anything to acquire an MBA. But it doesn’t come cheap both in terms of how much you pay to acquire it or the time invested. But there is a much cheaper alternative in the personal MBA which is a business book that teaches you how to master the art of doing business. One review accurately puts it “You can get better results (and save hundreds of thousands of dollars) by skipping business school altogether” and of course avoid the boring power point presentations of financial models a typical MBA course will put you through with this book.

3) Playing to win

Strategy is necessary in business considering that you’ll be in competition with other businesses for the same customers or market segment. Strategy is also needed to plan for the growth and success of your business hence why a good, easy to read book on strategy like playing to win becomes necessary. This book is a case study of the impressive feats achieved by A.G Lafley who is the two-time CEO of Procter and Gamble and how his leadership achieved impressive market share and profits.

4) Everything Sales Book

The life of every business is in sales. All great businesses have effective sales strategy and methods by which they track leads and convert them into paying customers. This book teaches you what you need to do to accomplish your sales goals. Here you’ll receive practical tips on how to approach, initiate and follow up on sales leads plus sample dialogues and phone conversations to name a few.

You will learn how to:

• Find a job in sales
• Discover and track leads to build a potential customer list
• Choose the right selling method for every sales situation
• Leverage the Internet, e-mail, and mobile devices
• Improve people skills and presentation skills
• Create winning sales proposals

5) Small Business for Dummies

This book like many others from the stables of dummies offers many powerful yet simple business insights that any aspiring business owner can rely from the initial stage of generating business ideas, raising start-up money to hiring employees, balancing the books and planning for growth you’ll get them and other expert management advice including how to develop a marketing strategy, keeping your customers loyal and much more.