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For many investors, ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ is viewed as a classic and with reason! This book does an amazing job of helping the reader understand how money truly works, not what they teach you in school. Have you ever heard of The American Dream? The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. I remember this being explained to me as having a beautiful house with a white picket fence and having 2.5 children with a beautiful dog. The American Dream alludes to what this book aims to detail, but never really explains. This book will teach the principles of how to build wealth, not be rich.

Wealth > Riches

How do you build wealth? If your response is “I don’t know”, this book is a great place to start your learning. I found out about this book after hearing it be mentioned multiple times by a super successful real estate investor on a podcast. To qualify, the investor who recommended this book had over 50 buildings. I literally did not know what to expect, and when I received it I felt a little sketched out. The book’s cover doesn’t necessarily scream “read me, I’m going to teach you how to make millions of dollars.” To be fair, this book isn’t claiming to teach you the secrets to making millions of dollars either. This book is brilliant because it is an easy, laid back, and engaging read. If you don’t know ANYTHING about money, I recommend you start here… You literally can’t go wrong with this book, in my opinion.

“Sales… Sales is like blah right? Who wants to convince someone to buy a product? I don’t want to pressure someone into a sale, I don’t know how you do it.” I’ve heard this statement too many times to count. First off, if you’re pressuring someone into a sale, I personally think you’re creepy. Sales isn’t an art, it’s a science. While sales may be a science, it still requires some finesse. The Challenger Sale will teach you how to ask meaningful questions, understand your client, and put yourself in a position to learn. To be successful in sales, you need to listen to your leads/prospects/clients. If you aren’t learning about your client, their needs, wants, and situations, you aren’t successfully closing deals.

To quote one of my good friends “YOU NEED TO LISTEN!”

“I don’t like sales because I don’t like the thought of taking advantage of people.” I’ve heard this statement a little too much as well. If you’re taking advantage of someone in a sale, I personally think you’re a freak. You should walk into every buyer/seller relationship with the goal of walking away from the deal leaving both sides in a better position. I was recommended this book by one of my sales managers. At first, the name confused me, but once I got into the book, I saw why the book came highly recommended. Stop chasing your tail and get down to business.

This is one of the books in my rotation for a re-read.

Time to switch it up! This book is not a book on sales strategy. You will not learn how to ask for your prospect’s business by reading this book. What about how to win super profitable deals? Negative. This book is amazing because it teaches you about being a sales leader, and I don’t mean a sales manager. I love this book because this is the only book I’ve read that has obsessed over the details of being a successful salesperson. “How To Be A Rain Maker” explores what you need to do to consistently exceed your quota. In reading this book, you will learn tried and true sales tactics to keep a healthy pipeline, eliminate poor leads, and exceed your quota. If you’re new to sales, you should be starting here. Sales are a little like puberty, some of us blossom into beautiful butterflies, while some of us stay awkward caterpillars for a little longer than others.

This is an honorable mention! For some salespeople, this is considered a bible. For other salespeople, they’ve never read this book and never plan to. I’ll be honest, I didn’t start to learn from this book until I was halfway through. Some of the recommendations in this book are pretty straightforward if you’ve already been in sales, and have seen some success. While this book is a classic sales book for many, I believe this book is best suited to helping people understand emotional intelligence. The book focuses on how to talk to people, how to work with difficult people, and how to continue moving towards your goal no matter what type of personality you’re dealing with.

“I want to start a business but don’t know where to start! How do I start a business? I don’t have enough money to start a business I’ll just wait till I get my money right.”

Excuses are easy to make if you don’t have the motivation to make a change. If you’re interested in making a change, starting a business, and using a framework that has worked for hundreds of other budding entrepreneurs, this is the book for you.

“Monopolies are bad. Monopolies stifle innovation. Monopolies [insert hyperbolic criticism about businesses].” This book is effectively a book on monopolies. To be clear, it isn’t a book that preaches how to manipulate and take advantage of a market. Zero to One is easily one of my favorite books because it talks about how to build a business that is highly defensible. Zero to One is a book on innovation that consistently highlights how innovative companies grow to have monopolistic levels of market share. It is a truly fascinating book as it debunks a lot of common ideas around building businesses.

Zero to One is one of my Top 5 Favorite Books.

When LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman was asked: What is an entrepreneur? He said “someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down.” While this is a famous quote from Reid, in his book Blitzscaling, he adds to that quote. When companies experience exponential growth that can sometimes cripple a business, that’s called Blitzscaling. Blitzscaling is like jumping off a cliff, building a plan on your way down, while adding rockets to the plane. Blitzscaling isn’t easy, if it were everyone would be doing it. Blitzscaling doesn’t work for every business, if it did, everyone would be doing it. Blitzscaling gives you a view into the innerworkings and how some of the largest and most successful companies built their businesses.

Blitzscaling is one of my Top 5 Favorite Books.

Ever watch Shark Tank? No? Ever hear of the Dallas Mavericks? No? Ever fly an airplane? Ok so Mark Cuban didn’t invent airplanes, but he did make the largest purchase over the internet…ever! If you guessed he bought an airplane, then you’re right! “How To Win At The Sport of Business” takes us through how Mark views business, why he believes business is like a sport, and he talks through some of the basics of starting a business. The book also provides a view of his journey from a broke college student to a billionaire entrepreneur with a large portfolio of businesses. This one is a quick and easy read, but a good one!

Ready for my favorite book of all time? Here it goes! 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall is one of the most detail-oriented books I’ve ever read. Do you ever wonder why you work so many hours to see so little results? This book explains why! 80/20 Sales & Marketing is a book explaining the Pareto Principle and how the principle is much more dynamic than the original principle’s intent.

The Pareto Principle is simple. 80% of what you do generates 20% of your results, and 20% of what you do generates 80% of your results. If you focus on 20% of 20% of what you do, you will generate 80% of 80% of your results. This may sound confusing for some, but as you go through the book you are exposed to new concepts and theories that will blow your mind.

If you want to become extremely effective, this book is for you!

80/20 Sales & Marketing is one of my Top 5 Favorite Books.

Ok, now it’s honesty hour… I know it seems like I’m up to a lot, but I don’t want to work that much. I read the 4-Hour Work Week in 2018 a few weeks after I read 80/20 Sales & Marketing by Perry Marshall… This book is a must-read for young entrepreneurs who are looking to transition from working 40-hours a week to owning their own business. This book is a must-read for everyone. Manage your time better, manage your time smarter, and live the life you deserve.

The 4-Hour Work Week is one of my Top 5 Favorite Books.

Do you want exponential success? Welcome to 10X! 10X explains how the amount of effort you have to dedicate to achieve a specific kind of result is the same as the effort you would have to dedicate to achieve a result that is 10 times greater. Grant Cardone is best known for being a real estate influencer, high powered businessman, and for his book 10X. The 10X book was so successful that he ultimately went on to build his entire brand around 10X. It can be argued that his success today came from the effort he put into 10X. I haven’t read any of the other books by Uncle G, but this one is an absolute gem.

Easily one of the most transformative books I’ve read… I found a copy of The Pearl in my bedroom when I first moved out of my parent’s home. The copy of The Pearl I ended up reading was my older brother’s as he had to read it in High School. I’m 100% confident he didn’t take away what I took away from the book because… high schoolers right? In short, The Pearl woke me up to the reality that while I want to be wildly successful, I never truly sat down to think/plan out what I would do with all of that success. The Pearl follows a man who finds “The Pearl of the World” in a time where his people were oppressed. While he was technically the richest man in his village and maybe on the continent, The Pearl came with many challenges and tragedies that no amount of money could justify.

The Pearl is one of my Top 5 Favorite Books.

Success has much more to do with your mental, emotional, and spiritual health than the amount of money in your bank account. Peace is something most of us lack. Americans aren’t particularly known for their culture of mindfulness and restraint. Overall, in today’s modern world, most people are consumed in technology, vanity, and things that don’t add to their life. If you are struggling with the above, I recommend this book be at the top of your reading list. If you’re not struggling with the above, you probably already enjoy content related to living a better life. This is a must-read for everyone in my personal opinion.