3 Good Books – books to change your mind

Andrew Connell

Full stack web dev, micropreneur, founder & 11-time recipient of Microsoft’s MVP award for SharePoint. @mscloudshow co-host podcast & @kerrbapp co-founder. @andrewconnell

The Lean Startup

The fundamental way how you get stuff done… do the minimum to get something in your customer’s hands, get feedback, address it, get it back to your customer’s hands.

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Essentialism

Stop trying to do everything… do more by doing less and don’t spread yourself thin. Once I wasn’t working so hard all the time, I started getting more done.

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Take Your Eye of the Ball

Take Your Eye off the Ball

As strange as it may sound for a life / business book, it’s fantastic. I’m a huge football fan… a fan of the game. But what I loved about these are that they really show that there are patterns in even the most seemingly random things like sports. If you can spot them, you can exploit them to your advantages.

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Andy Barr

Head up 10Yetis. Global conf speaker on #socialmedia, public relations, #video and #digital #pr campaigns. Loves a pun and the term #darksocial. @10yetis

Carra

A story of leadership, focus, dedication and putting your body on the line for the cause. Very similar to my own career in public relations. In all seriousness, this is one of the best football books ever written and many of the stories translate into handy nuggets of management advice, for example, no business should ever hire El Hadji Diouf. In another rare moment of honesty, this is my fave book for a quick pick me up. If I have had a tough day or feeling a bit “meh” Jamie always comes to the rescue.

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E

e by Matt Beaumont

My goal in life is to get everyone who works in the creative sector, especially agency side, to read this book. It is fairly old now but is still a fairly good reflection of what the creative industry is really like. I don’t think there is a week goes by where an industry story does not remind me of this book. Even better, people in our office now shout “but is it a gold” during creative meetings, in honour of this book.

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Good to Great

Simply put, if you own a business and don’t have this book, then you have an actually medical problem. Having read this book several times it has now achieved cult status and sits as a permanent reference book on my bedside table. It is GOOD as a general business guide but GREAT as an inspirational business tool.

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Brian Casel

I write and teach at http://casjam.com // I run http://audienceops.com // I co-host the http://bootstrappedweb.com podcast. @casjam

The E-Myth Revisited

Might be a bit basic for business owner’s who’ve been at it a while, but when I read it as a freelancer it was a game changer for me. It opened my mind to the idea that I can build my own business without me doing all of the work.

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Essentialism

I read this recently and it gave me a deeper understanding of what I already knew to be true: Focus is key and you have to step back and remove (most!) things to allow space to focus on only the most important things.

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The Bulletproof Diet

Not a business book, but this definitely made an impact on my health, and especially my brainpower and focus, which enabled a noticeable difference in my ability to get stuff done and focus on the right things.

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Pat Flynn

Lead by example. Be honest. Hold nothing back. @PatFlynn

The Miracle Morning

This book changed my life, and turned me from a night owl that got a lot done, into a morning person with rituals that allow me to get even more done, have better focus and be more happy in life.

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The One Thing

I usually listen to my books, but I bought a physical copy of this one because I place it right next to my computer so I can see it every time I sit down to work. Why? It’s a great reminder for me to always focus and work on that next one thing on my list, and not get distracted by everything else I know I have to do later. This book definitely helps me focus, but also tells me what the consequences are if you lose that focus.

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Virtual Freedom

It took me a while, but I finally learned how valuable it is to have others do work for you – whether it’s work you can’t do, hate to do, or even work that you love and can do very well but you shouldn’t do as the owner of your business. Building a virtual, remote team has been one of the number one ways my business has scaled and grown over the past two years, and I owe a lot of it to this book.

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Rachel Andrew

Web developer, writer, speaker, runner. Half of the company behind @grabaperch. @rachelandrew

A Life Without Limits

I don’t often re-read books, but this is my go to inspirational book. Chrissie is not only an amazing triathlete, she is also an inspirational human in terms of her attitude to life and to other people. Even if you are not into sport, this is a really good read.

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Getting Things Done

There are many books on productivity, and various techniques. I’ve never found anything to work as well for as many people as GTD. It’s worth going back to the source and reading this book to get started.

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Confessions of a Public Speaker

I do a lot of public speaking now, but I used to be terrified of the idea. When I decided that I wanted to overcome my fears and start speaking this book was a huge help to me. It is full of real tips and experiences based on Scott’s own experiences as an established speaker. A little anecdote is that the first main stage speaking gig I had after taking the plunge and starting speaking was completely by coincidence a conference Scott was also speaking at! So I got to meet him and despite coming across as an awkward fan, did tell him how helpful the book had been.

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Flemming Madsen

Predictive analytics and data mining @FlemmingMa

Nexus

An intelligent thriller about how the future could look like. Three researchers develop a way to super-charge their cerebral abilities. They can take humanity to the next level, but governments and dark forces want to get hold of the innovation and exploit it for their own benefit.
Once I started I couldn’t put it down. Still enjoy thinking about the issues it raises.

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The Hard Thing About Hard Things

The fantastic story about Ben Horowitz’s life as an entrepreneur. The book is great because it deliberately deals with many of the difficulties of being an entrepreneur and how they can be overcome.
A must read for anyone who is or want to work in a start-up.

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The Signal and the Noise

As someone who spend a lot of time looking for needles in haystacks, this book is a must read. The book is a great read, but it also delivers practical methods that can be used to clarify thinking on complex observations. Last, but not least, it is very entertaining.

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Jonathan Kim

Software engineer from Hawaii. Majored in Journalism. Passionate about http://appcues.com and helping real people. @hijonathan

The Elements of Style

This was a holy bible when I was in journalism school, though surprisingly more dry and unsexy than King James’. Though I didn’t appreciate it at the time, the ability to communicate clearly and concisely has continued to be invaluable regardless of my role.

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Clean Code

A tiny book that’s a must read for anyone writing code. This book helped me realize that every line of code incurs costs and that great engineers are the ones who create value without racking up debt.

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Atlas Shrugged

Ignoring the politics for a minute, this book had some fascinating and inspiring characters who were gifted, adept, ambitious and innovative. As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to wonder what positive impact someone like that could have on the world.

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Justin Jackson

Let’s make some stuff. @mijustin

Getting Real

This is the book that made me want to create software products. It’s the original manifesto written by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, and describes the philosophy they used to build Basecamp.

Anything You Want

Sivers is a master communicator. In this short book he distills the lessons he learned building CD Baby. I found his stories and anecdotes inspiring. It’s even better as an audio book.

The Power of Habit

A fascinating look into how habits are built, and how they can be changed. I find myself returning to my notes from this book quite often. There’s lots of insights into human psychology, and how we can improve ourselves and our teams.

Brecht Palombo

Father, Husband, Entrepreneur, Mountain Biker | Product: http://distressedpro.com Podcast: http://bootstrappedwithkids.com Traveling: http://nomadicbrood.com @brechtify

The Four Hour Workweek

Cliché as it is The 4 Hour Work Week had a huge impact on me as I found it at exactly the right time and followed it.

The One Thing

Recently “The One Thing” has had a large impact on how I look at what I’m doing.

The Ultimate Sales Letter

In terms of having a marketing foundation I think anyone who’s selling anything with words and has not read “The Ultimate Sales Letter” by Dan kennedy is shooting themselves in the foot.

Justin McGill

Started from -$6 and built a 7 figure agency. Now growing @LeadFuze & Co-Host of @ZeroToScale. I talk #entrepreneurship at http://justinmcgill.net

The Ultimate Sales Machine

This book had a profound impact on me as a founder, without previous sales experience. It taught me how to not only think like a sales person, but implement plans and procedures like a sales manager. It covers it all and Chet gives great examples throughout the book.

Launch

A B2B book with amazing story telling. Gives several examples of how to launch a product using his “Product Launch Formula”. How to setup your drip campaigns, when to provide the offer, etc.

The Lean Startup

So many times I see startup founders trying to “go big or go home” without ever knowing if their business idea is even legitimate. Some of the principles taught in this book and completely changed how businesses are built and even how businesses are invested in.