small business
The 100+ Best Books for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

Starting a business is easy, said nobody, ever.
Most business owners start with a particular acumen, whether it be an expertise in marketing, a knowledge of effective product design or a background in finance. Beyond that, business owners either need to partner with individuals with different strengths or get to studying!
Luckily, there are many prolific entrepreneurs and businesspeople who are more than willing to share their expertise.
You might even say there are too many business books to read! We took some time to categorize and narrow down what we believe to be the best business books.
We included the best marketing books, the best leadership books, the best finance books and much more.
We even included our staff favorites (because, hey, we are a small business, too!)
I want business books talking about:
I want to see books that are:
Show only staff favorite books:
Communication
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Communication
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288 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
A former hostage negotiator, Chris Voss prepares the reader for a series of life’s most challenging negotiations. Voss instructs the reader on how to take emotional intelligence and intuition in order to win the advantage in any negotiation.
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Communication
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272 pages
Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition (Business Books)
This bestselling book gives its readers tools for communicating and negotiating in high stakes situations. Applicable to both personal and professional life, Crucial Conversations instructs readers on how to listen and communicate in all situations.
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Communication
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288 pages
Start with NO…The Negotiating Tools that the Pros Don’t Want You to Know
Negotiation coach Jim Camp takes his readers from his contrarian starting point to the point of mutual negotiation in any sort of situation. Working (seemingly) backwards allows the reader to understand and control their negotiations from the start.
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Communication
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224 pages
Negotiating the Impossible: How to Break Deadlocks and Resolve Ugly Conflicts (without Money or Muscle)
In Negotiating the Impossible, Malhotra identifies and explains three approaches for negotiating stalemate situations. Using real-life negotiations, Malhotra illustrates how to implement these strategies.
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Communication
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176 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
The Art of Communicating
To take a different approach, pick up zen master Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Art of Communicating. Learn how to listen mindfully and how to express yourself meaningfully and truthfully.
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Communication
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416 pages
Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life
Based on twenty years of research, Getting More concludes that people’s emotions and perceptions are far more valuable than pure logic. Introducing the ideas of win-win and BATNA, Getting More challenges age old conventional ideas in business and personal relations
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Communication
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288 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking
There probably is not a better place to learn about creating unforgettable talks than in this official TED guide to public speaking.
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Communication
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288 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds
In this New York Times bestseller, Gallo interviews some of the best TED Talk presenters to find out the best strategies and secrets for an impactful public speaking event.
Customer Service
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Customer Service
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116 pages
Smile: Sell More with Amazing Customer Service. The Essential 60-Minute Crash Course
This book is a great quick look at how to improve your customer service processes to get and retain customers.
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Customer Service
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216 pages
The Customer Support Handbook: How to Create the Ultimate Customer Experience for Your Brand
Written for both CEOs and customer support agents, this book takes a look at how support should be done. It discusses topics like using social media for support, how to hire support personnel and much more.
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Customer Service
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208 pages
Delight Your Customers: 7 Simple Ways to Raise Your Customer Service from Ordinary to Extraordinary
Only 8% of companies are rated by customers as having extraordinary customer service. This book helps you ensure that your company is one of them. It focuses on how to build a support culture and delight customers at every turn.
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Customer Service
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208 pages
The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service
Written by the former EVP of Disney, this book gives 39 easily digestible tips about how to provide great customer service.
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Customer Service
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224 pages
The Big Book of Customer Service Training Games (Big Book Series)
Customer service is critically important if you want your business to succeed. This book provides actionable, real world exercises your team can use to practice and improve at customer service.
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Customer Service
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183 pages
The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service
Written by Jeff Toister, an expert in customer service with over 25 years of experience, this book shows you how to create a workplace obsessed with customer service.
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Customer Service
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224 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service (Disney Institute Book, A)
Based on the Disney Institute, which has been teaching professionals for 25 years how to exceed their customers expectations, this book provides the story and techniques Disney uses to delight customers.
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Customer Service
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127 pages
The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary (Business Books)
This book takes a deep dive into why Starbucks has been so successful. One of the core pieces of the book is creating a fantastic customer experience.
Entrepreneurship
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Entrepreneurship
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380 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
The Four Steps to the Epiphany
This is a must read for any startup/business founder. Blank not only explores what makes some startups successful and others fail; he also gives actionable plans for how to make sure your company has the best chance to be successful.
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Entrepreneurship
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288 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
In Blink, Gladwell explores how we think. Why are some people good decision makers while others are not? Why do some people have success following their instincts while others fail? It’s an essential read for anyone thinking of creating a company.
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Entrepreneurship
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352 pages
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
Richard Feynman is one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century and one of its most fascinating characters. Safe cracker, bongo drum player, and teacher of science, Feynman lived to pursue purely what was interesting and fun to him. A lot can be learned by the way he lived his life.
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Entrepreneurship
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608 pages
Benjamin Franklin An American Life
Benjamin Franklin was a writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist as well as a founding father of the United States. Not a bad resume. This biography takes you on the fascinating journey of his life. It’s hard to not feel inspired after reading this book.
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Entrepreneurship
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288 pages
The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change)
Clayton Christensen is an associate professor at Harvard Business School. In this book, he explores why large companies that have great technology and great customer service can still fail.
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Entrepreneurship
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257 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook
Tony Robbins, famous for being a life and business strategist, he has also spent a lot of time interviewing the best financial minds in the world. Unshakeable is his follow up to Money: Master the Game (also fantastic). This book will teach you skills to help you create a financial plan so you can put your money to work for you and help you retire comfortably.
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Entrepreneurship
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418 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
This book teaches you actionable strategies on how to save time and make more money. The author, Tim Ferriss, has become famous for teaching himself how to net a 5 figure income working just 4 hours a week.
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Entrepreneurship
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308 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, takes you on a tour of the hard side of running a business. He discusses problems he has faced as a leader and how he overcame them. It’s invaluable for anyone looking to start a business.
Finance
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Finance
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172 pages
Small Business Finance for the Busy Entrepreneur: Blueprint for Building a Solid, Profitable Business
This is a well-written book that takes you through the key components of small business financial management and ensures you have the skills to run a profitable small business.
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Finance
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384 pages
Small Business Financial Management Kit For Dummies
From the well-known “For Dummies” series, this book walks you through the basics of financial management. It walks you step-by-step through things like cash flow management, budgeting and more. It also includes handy checklists and forms that makes it all easier.
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Finance
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352 pages
Entrepreneurial Finance, Third Edition: Finance and Business Strategies for the Serious Entrepreneur (Business Books)
Written by Steven Rogers, lecturer at Harvard Business School and winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, this book is a complete one-stop and in-depth resource for building your company’s financial foundation.
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Finance
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124 pages
Accounting for Small Business Owners
This book focuses specifically on accounting and will walk you through how to setup and run a business, manage and sell your products, and balance your accounts at the end of the month.
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Finance
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320 pages
Finance Your Own Business: Get on the Financing Fast Track
A shortage of capital is the number one reason small businesses fail to get off the ground. This book focuses specifically on how you can use, raise and borrow funds to get your business going.
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Finance
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167 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine
In this book, Michalowicz take a unique look at how business owners should view profit and put them on the right path toward creating a money-making machine.
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Finance
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224 pages
Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success
Bad cashflow can rapidly sink even a profitable small business. This book dives into how to manage and improve your cash flow so your business can be successful.
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Finance
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102 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Crowdfunding Basics In 30 Minutes: How to use Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other crowdfunding platforms to support your entrepreneurial and creative dreams
Crowdfunding has rapidly become a viable way to start a small business. This book walks you through the pros and cons of crowd funding and how to do it successfully.
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Finance
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224 pages
Keeping the Books: Basic Recordkeeping and Accounting for the Successful Small Business
Now in its 27th year, Keeping the Books still serves as a tremendous introduction and guide to small business accounting.
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Finance
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744 pages
Accounting All-in-One For Dummies
This book offers an extremely in-depth look at how to manage your accounting processes. The book takes a look at topics ranging from bookkeeping to detecting and preventing fraud.
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Finance
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576 pages
Bookkeeping All-In-One For Dummies
This book covers the basics of bookkeeping, which is critical to the success of a small business owner. Topics include assets and liablities, ledger and journals, and common accounting basics.
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Finance
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464 pages
Raising Capital: Get the Money You Need to Grow Your Business
This book covers the variety of ways that businesses can raise money at each stage of growth. It also explores some less traditional means of raising capital like franchising, strategic licensing, and more.
Leadership
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Leadership
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288 pages
Crazy Bosses: Fully Revised and Updated
Everyone has had a bit of a crazy boss right? In this fantastically funny book, Stanley Bing explores the different types of crazies we typically encounter. There’s a lot to be learned, both as a manager and as one who is managed.
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Leadership
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111 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
The One Minute Manager
This is an extremely practical book that is quick to read and gives real results. The book goes over three major principles that will help you be a more efficient leader.
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Leadership
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368 pages
First, Break All The Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
This book discusses findings from a study of more than 80,000 managers. First, Break All The Rules takes you into the mind of some of the world’s best managers. It also debunks a number of ideas that are typically conventional wisdom when it comes to management. It’s a must-read.
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Leadership
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256 pages
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Simon Sinek explores what great leaders have in common and walks you through a framework that you can use in your own organization. The book contains great insights about leadership. Only knock against it is that it can be repetitive at times.
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Leadership
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272 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent
Superbosses focuses on how exceptional leaders are able to hire and nurture great talent. Everyone has a unique style, but the commonality is in how they are able to spot new talent inspire their employees to do their best work.
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Leadership
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352 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time
This is a fascinating book that explores why people fall for cons. The tie to leadership is that to properly lead, we need our employees to believe in us. It also teaches how con artists are experts at convincing someone to believe in them (even against their better judgement).
Marketing
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Marketing
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336 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition
This is a great starter for anyone working in Marketing. Cialdini dives deep to the psychology of what makes a consumer say YES. Learn the six principles of persuasion and how to implement them.
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Marketing
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224 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World
If you haven’t heard of Gary F#$%ing Vaynerchuk, it is time to pick up Jab, Jab. In this book Gary lays out his no-nonsense social media strategies for today’s marketer.
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Marketing
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142 pages
Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
In his first book, Gary Vaynerchuk urges entrepreneurs to take their passion and make a living doing what they love to do. Drawing from his own experince building his family business, Gary lays out a recipe for success.
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Marketing
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240 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
All Marketers are Liars: The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All
Prolific business writer Seth Godin asks marketers to tell their authentic story in order to connect with the world. Godin believes that marketers have perfected the power of the story and they need to use this to honestly speak to their customers.
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Marketing
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256 pages
Contagious: Why Things Catch On
In Contagion, Jonah Berger explores the power of word-of-mouth social interactions, citing that most people listen to their peers before a flashy advertisement.
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Marketing
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291 pages
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
In Made To Stick, brothers Dan and Chip Heath instruct readers on how to take a good idea and make it work (and last!). Made to Stick shows principles of the best ideas and how to apply them for success.
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Marketing
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320 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
To be a successful marketing, you should be able to write well! Everybody Writes stresses the importance of clear and precise writing. Whether you are blogging, tweeting, or writing copy, your words are important.
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Marketing
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340 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers
Block out the haters with Jay Baer. In Hug Your Haters, Baer highlights how closely customer relations and marketing can align, especially in these days of social media and online reviews.
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Marketing
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224 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Ogilvy on Advertising
Don’t you wish you could step into the brain of one of the world’s greatest known advertisers of all time? Well here is your chance. David Ogilvy’s On Advertising, published in 1985, has concepts that still hold true more than 30 years later.
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Marketing
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224 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Inbound Marketing, Revised and Updated: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online
This is the first book I read as a marketer. Shah and Halligan, the founders of Inbound, introduce and explain the concepts of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is a powerful and creative breed of marketing used by startups and giant companies alike.
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Marketing
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352 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less (Business Books)
Let Joe Pulizzi, one of the world’s leading content marketers, teach you how to cut through the noise and bad information out there. Epic Content Marketing will take you through a step-by-step process to create the most authentic and engaging content.
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Marketing
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144 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising
Growth hacking is how huge companies like Facebook, Airbnb and Twitter have built their businesses wuthout traditional advertising. Learn about growth hacking to implement a huge marketing effort on a modest budget.
Productivity
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Productivity
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432 pages
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Versions of this book have been around and on book lists for over 25 years, which should give you an idea of how highly regarded this book is. 7 Habits… provides a methodology for life and work and is a must-read for anyone serious about becoming productive.
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Productivity
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116 pages
The One Minute To-Do List: Quickly Get Your Chaos Completely Under Control
This book presents a simple and concise way to get your chaotic life under control. The book is short and to the point, providing you with a foolproof way to create the perfect to-do list.
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Productivity
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267 pages
Getting Things Done : How to achieve stress-free Productivity
David Allen lays out a framework for taking control over your productivity. He posits that productivity is directly proportional to your ability to relax. Stress kills productivity. His framework helps you organize your list of to-do’s into one organized system so you can focus on getting things done.
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Productivity
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504 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better
This book cuts to the chase and gives you hacks, tips and tricks to get things done faster. The hacks range all over the place, but there’s tons of actionable advice that you can start using immediately.
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Productivity
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240 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
The Checklist Manifesto explores the simple idea of a checklist and the impact that a good checklist has on a variety of industries. I can’t recommend this book enough. We use checklists at Proven for a variety of tasks to help reduce error and make us more productive. It’s a game changer.
Psychology/Self-Help
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Psychology/Self-Help
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172 pages
Instant Focus: How to Beat Procrastination, Skyrocket Your Productivity, and Double Your Output – 27 Small Tweaks to Do More In Less Time
If you’re looking to get more done in a day, this is the book you’re searching to find. It contains 25 ways you can get the most out of every minute of your day.
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Psychology/Self-Help
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424 pages
Unleash Your Inner Company: Use Passion and Perseverance to Build Your Ideal Business
This book offers a proven step-by-step process wannabe entrepreneurs can take to make the leap and become actual entrepreneurs. The book addresses both real world tactics and the more difficult psychological ones as well.
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Psychology/Self-Help
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304 pages
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
The $100 startup seeks to change the way most entrepreneurs think about founding a business by having them focus more on resourcefulness.
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Psychology/Self-Help
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318 pages
Never Too Late to Startup: How Mid-Life Entrepreneurs Create Wealth, Freedom, & Purpose
This book seeks to inspire and educate midlife entrepreneurs to take the leap and create a company.
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Psychology/Self-Help
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704 pages
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
This book published by New York Times bestselling author Tim Ferriss explores the lessons learned by billionaries, innovators and icons in a variety of fields. It is meant to be read either start to finish or to serve as a handy manual that can be referenced when needed.
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Psychology/Self-Help
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268 pages
The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs
Kevin Johnson, a serial entrepreneur, breaks down the beliefs and characteristics of entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Sara Blakely and more.
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Psychology/Self-Help
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600 pages
Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummies
This book, published by the famous “For Dummies” series, provides you with all the information you need to open your own small business.
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Psychology/Self-Help
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336 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
Flow teaches readers how to achieve happiness and improve their quality of life by exploring their own consciousness, especially in cases where one becomes lost in creativity.
Remote Work
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Remote Work
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256 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Remote: Office Not Required
In this book, the team at 37Signals (aka Basecamp) explore the trend of working from home, why companies are increasingly drawn to it, and how they became a remote company.
Taxes
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Taxes
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288 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Small Business Taxes For Dummies
From the well-known “for Dummies” series, this book serves as a great introduction to small business taxes. The book appeals to an absolute beginner and will walk you step by step through what needs to be done.
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Taxes
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224 pages
475 Tax Deductions for Businesses and Self-Employed Individuals: An A-to-Z Guide to Hundreds of Tax Write-Offs
This book focuses specifically on tax deductions for small businesses. However, if you’re looking for a book solely about deductions you can take, few go deeper than this one.
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Taxes
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688 pages
J.K. Lasser’s Small Business Taxes 2017: Your Complete Guide to a Better Bottom Line
Written by Barbara Weltman, a well-regarded small business expert, the book offers a thorough and complete introduction to small business taxes. Updated every year, the book contains the most recent rules and regulations enabling you to complete your taxes and get back to business.
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Taxes
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86 pages
Taxes: For Small Businesses QuickStart Guide – Understanding Taxes For Your Sole Proprietorship, Startup, & LLC
If you’re looking for a book that gives a good overview of taxes for small businesses, look no further. The book is less detailed than others in the category but will get you up to speed on general tax principles quickly.
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Taxes
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224 pages
The Tax and Legal Playbook: Game-Changing Solutions to Your Small-Business Questions
Taxes and legal issues are usually topics people avoid like the plague but they are critically important if you own or run a small business. This book is designed to serve as a reference and teach you what you need to know about taxes and legal issues so you can get back to running your business.
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Taxes
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480 pages
J.K. Lasser’s 1001 Deductions and Tax Breaks 2017: Your Complete Guide to Everything Deductible
J.K. Lassler’s book series includes quite a few books on taxes but this one focuses exclusively on deductions. If you’re looking for a complete list of deductions your company can take to save money on taxes, look no further.
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Taxes
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320 pages
Small Business Taxes Made Easy, Third Edition
Written by the founder of taxmama.com, this book provides clear and actionable tax advice.
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Taxes
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376 pages
Tax Savvy for Small Business: A Complete Tax Strategy Guide
This book focuses more on the strategy of taxes and will help you create one that allows your business to thrive. It was also named the best tax book by Entrepreneur Magazine.
Tools
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Tools
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400 pages
Adobe Photoshop CC Classroom in a Book (2017 release)
Published by Adobe, this book serves as a comprehensive guide to learning and using Photoshop.
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Tools
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408 pages
QuickBooks 2017 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))
From the popular “For Dummies” series, this book serves as a great resource for any small business owners trying to use quickbooks. Quickbooks is one of the most popular acounting programs used by small businesses around the world.
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Tools
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456 pages
Salesforce.com For Dummies
Salesforce is one of the most popular sales management tools in the world and is used by thousands of small businesses. This book explains why Salesforce is so valuable and walks you step by step through how to use it to improve your business.
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Tools
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60 pages
Shopify: Beginner to Pro Guide – The Comprehensive Guide (Make Money Online Book 1)
This book will walk you through how to use Shopify, one of the most popular tools for building websites, step-by-step.
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Tools
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1152 pages
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Caileen’s Favorite
Excel 2016 Bible
Microsoft Excel is an incredibly powerful program that can help with a variety of business issues ranging from finance, to data collection, and more. This book is a comprehensive guide on how to use the program. Excel Bible will give you a complete understanding of how it works.
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Tools
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50 pages
Zendesk Quickstart Guide: The Step-By Step Guide to Create ITIL Processes Quickly and Easily
Zendesk is one of the most commonly used support management programs. This book walks you through how to set it up so your customer service team can be successful.
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Tools
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110 pages
Google Drive: A Beginners Guide to Google Drive Master Google Drive, Docs, She
Google Drive is a powerful cloud storage tool but can be difficult to learn for first time users. This guide will walk you through how to use Google Drive to help your business succeed.
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Tools
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352 pages
PowerPoint 2016 For Dummies (Powerpoint for Dummies)
Microsoft Powerpoint is a powerful tool you can use to convey information to investors, employees or customers. But creating a great Powerpoint can be tricky, so that’s where this book comes in. It provides clear step-by-step directions on how to use Powerpoint effectively.
Final Thoughts
There you have it!
Those are our favorite small business books for all levels of business owner and entrepreneur. Remember, whether you are a novice or an expert in your field, there is always more to learn.
We know 100+ book seems like a lot, but there are even more great resources out there! As always, we love to keep our content as relevant and green as possible.
If you have a book on finance that is sorely missing from this list, tell us! If you read a leadership memoir that knocked your socks off, let us know in the comments. We want this to be a go-to list for of small business books for everyone!
Social Media Marketing Workbook: 2016 Edition – How to Use Social Media for Business
Jason McDonald’s Workbook is used at Stanford to teach how to market a business on platforms like Facebook and YouTube. The purchase of this workbook will open you to free downloadable tools, worksheets and marketing videos. Use this Workbook to get a Stanford-level continuing studies education in Social Media.
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