6 Business Books That Will Revolutionize Your Business and Change Your Life

Books have the power to change lives. We live in a time when books are more affordable and accessible. Yet, fewer entrepreneurs read books, using the excuse of a lack of time. If you can’t find time to read, you as an entrepreneur will not grow, which will have an effect on your business.

If you study any successful entrepreneur, you’ll see one of the keys to their success is that they educate themselves through books. You can get books these days for as little as .99 cents. Many are even free through Amazon’s KDP Select program. There’s no reason not to have a Kindle full of books that can educate you and teach you strategies to grow your business. 

Here are six books that can help you create a business and life you love. This list is a good start. It’s up to you to research books that will help you and your business where you are in your journey. These books are changing lives and helping entrepreneurs grow their business. 

1. Just Blow it Up: Firepower for Living an Unlimited Life.

Dixie Gillaspie is an author, coach, speaker and fire starter. She is also a contributor here at Entrepreneur. Her mission and this book are all about breaking through the barriers that typically hold entrepreneurs back from growth in their business and life. Your mindset is one of the most important parts of your business because what you think affects the action you take. Just Blow it Up helps you identify mindset traps and gives you a practical strategy to beat them. This is the definitive guide to climbing over those mental walls.

2. MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom.

Tony Robbins is a pioneer in the personal development space, but his book on finances is like a graduate course in college. A novice in finance could read this book and walk away an expert. Tony takes complicated financial strategies and distills them down to the average reader’s level.

Money is not everything in life, but it is important, especially in the business. There are many entrepreneurs who are great at making income, but are clueless as to how to make their money work for them through investing. You started your business to create freedom, Tony’s book can help you take that freedom to a level you didn’t think was possible through the right investment strategies.

3. 48 Days to the Work You Love.

If you are a frequent Entrepreneur reader, Dan Miller’s book will speak to you, especially if you’re stuck in a day job. What comes through the most in this book is how unique and genuinely an entrepreneur is Dan Miller. Dan is an entrepreneur who refuses to accept what society and the media have conditioned us to believe about our dreams and entrepreneurship. He lays out an actionable plan to transition out of a day job into a business and life you love. Read the book with caution because you will walk away changed. I read this book in hours. I couldn't out it down. 

4. Business in Blue Jeans.

Susan Baroncini-Moe has written the playbook for creating a business that’s everything you’ve wanted it to be. Susan starts off dealing with the mindset traps and moves to the strategies that will help your business see explosive growth. She teaches you how to build a business you love on your terms. Entrepreneurship has changed. Today, you can run a multi-million dollar business from anywhere in the world. Susan teaches you how. I read this book on an eight-hour bus ride from London to Paris, I couldn't sleep because the book had me speechless.

5. The Dip.

You know this list wouldn’t be complete without a Seth Godin book. Seth has a way with words and knows how to cut through the fluff. The Dip is a book about knowing when to quit or move on. The book deals with mindset struggles and offers a plan to overcome them. It’s a short read that should be on every entrepreneur's book list.

6. The Fire Path.

Kate Erickson wrote this book about leading podcaster John Lee Dumas. John and Kate have built the Entrepreneur on Fire podcast to a six-figure a month business. The book lays out a practical plan you can use to grow a business using the untapped medium of podcasting. 

Make time every day and week to read an excellent book. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs read a book a week. Knowledge is power and the key to growth. Add these books to your list; they can help you create a business and life you love.

Kimanzi Constable

There Are 8 Indispensable Elements of Real Wealth and 7 Aren't Money

What’s the purpose of life?

That's a powerful question that deserves your attention. My answer has drastically changed the past five to 10 years, and will continue to evolve. Success is part of life's purpose but I know that on the other side of success is the quest for more success, more milestones, more achievements, more people to help and learn from, more money to be made. That's great. Life becomes mundane and boring without goals and dreams to reach for but I believe there is more to life and real wealth.

Don’t get me wrong. Becoming a millionaire is a valid desire for everyone, but there is no higher success than building and maintaining a world class life with meaning and significance. Awareness precedes choice, and your choices determine the quality of your life. I’ve put some serious thought into what makes a world class life. Here are the eight forms you must adapt and start improving if you want to live an exceptional life with no regret.

1. A world-class inner life.

Your outer world, who you are and the quality of your life, is 100 percent determined by your inner world. Your inner world consists of your peace of mind, the quality of your thinking and living authentically. Are you living your true values or doing things based out of fear and worry? Your inner world determines your self worth and how connected you are to your core.

2. World-class health.

Your health is a very important part of wealth. If you don’t have your health, you have nothing. At the end of your life, the things you now perceive as the big things might be the little things. When we are young, we will compromise our health for wealth, but when we are old we will gladly sacrifice all of our wealth for just a little bit of health.

It’s extremely important to put health first, if you really want a world class life. We take our health for granted until we lose it, then we spend all our waking time trying to get it back. Those who don’t make time for exercise must eventually make time for illness.

3. World-class family life.

Having loved ones around you, and being able to see your family whenever you choose, is a crucial part of success. Gary Vaynerchuktold me his business is extremely important, but a distant second to his family. The greatest support system in the world is good family and friends. You can’t be careless here, you need great relationships and those who make you better. Remember, you can’t change your family, and trying to do so will cause you endless stress and frustration. Love them and appreciate them for who they are. 

4. World-class profession/career.

The attitude you bring to your days determine your destiny and it's extremely hard to carry a great attitude when you don't enjoy what you do. According to the new Gallup survey "71 percent of employees are activity disengaged at work."

Be patient and figure out your strengths. Purposefully choosing (or creating) your ideal professional is crucial to a world-class life. When you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. It's important to get to the end of your career knowing you gave your best. Yes, unexpected circumstances do happen but you are in control of your own future through the choices you make. Life is not easy nor promised, but it's how you adapt and adjust that determines what happens next. Never settle.

5. World-class financial freedom.

Less than 5 percent of our society will be financially stable by age 65. WTF? Money is extremely important and makes the world go round. It also gives you one of the most important aspects of a world-class life --freedom.

Money allows you the choices to do what you want, when you want, wherever you want, so you can live on your own terms. What’s your game plan to assure a financially free future?

6. World-class circle of genius.

You become who you spend the most time with. Are the people you’re associating with holding you to higher standards and challenging you? If you spend time with people who are playing at a world class level, you drastically increase your chances of doing the same. Their ways of being will rub off on you. You’ll adapt their philosophies and perspectives.

Start surrounding yourself with people whose lives you want to emulate. Keep company with those who are thinking and acting at an extraordinary level.

7. World-class experiences.

Ultimately, life is an adventure. Experiences and memories are what separate the elite lives from the mediocre. I’ve recently started focusing more on producing instead of consuming, and valuing experiences over material things. I like both, and appreciate the finer things in life, but after studying countless world-class people, it’s clear they are constantly creating memorable experiences. What's the point of doing something if you’re not having fun? 

8. World-class impact and legacy.

The worthiest aim of life is service to the world around us. How much difference are you making in the world around you? Are you adding consistent value that improves the lives of others?

Generosity the key that unlocks happiness. There is no greater feeling than when you help or give to others, asking for nothing back. Whether it is a compliment or a small gift, do something nice for somebody every day. Realize every tweet, every blog post and every conversation you have is part of your legacy.

I challenge you not to postpone your life. Most say “when I have more time I will take time for myself” but the reality is life waits for no one. Don't postpone travel or chasing your dreams. Nobody knows when their time is up, so make the most of it by focusing on these eight forms of real wealth.

Peter Voogd