Recommended Entrepreneurial Books (Unabridged)

For the abridged page, click here .

 

101 Best Small Businesses For Women (Huff, Priscilla Y.)

Gives readers the basics about the best businesses to start and run successfully. Includes tips for marketing and advertising, start-up costs, pricing guidelines, necessary equipment, etc.

 

220 Best Franchises to Buy (Jones, Constance)

A guide to knowing which franchise would best fit your personality, work ethic, and financial means. Gives a breakdown of many of the most popular industries and explains them in detail.

 

Adventure Careers (Hiam & Angle)

Offers advice for students of all ages in planning and achieving their dreams. Encourages constant learning from both conventional and unconventional sources. Discusses adventure careers in the fields of volunteer work, entrepreneurship, politics, spiritual work, and wilderness management.

 

The Beginning Entrepreneur (Matthews, John R.)

 

Beyond Entrepreneurship (Collins / Lazier)

Gives entrepreneurs the building blocks to help their companies sustain high performance, play a leadership role in their industries, and remain successful for generations. Includes five key elements necessary for guiding a company to long-time success along with lots of real-world examples.

 

Building Teams for Your Small Business (Maddux & Robert)

Helps teach you how to enhance productivity, resolve conflicts, and build trust in your small business through team building.

 

Built to Last (Collins / Porras)

Compares "visionary" companies with other companies in the same industry, for example: Disney and Columbia Pictures, Ford and General Motors, Motorola and Zenith, and Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments. Identifies common characteristics among the visionary companies.

 

The Business Owner's Basic Toolkit for Success (Hartley, Joan)

Gives practical collections of guidance and advice that gives the aspiring entrepreneur an advantage every step of the way. Provides exercises, encouragement, the tools to learn about yourself, and the work needed to reach your goals.

 

Business Plans Made Easy (Hendricks, Mark)

Makes writing your own business plan easy with an easy-to-read, step-by-step guide. Helps you to write your business plan to match your exact needs.

 

Business Plans That Win (Rich & Gumpert)

Shows how to write business plans to capture the attention of investors and get financial help from bankers using methods taught at the MIT Enterprise Forum.

 

The Business of Heart (Glauser)

Gives multiple examples of everyday Americans that are making their “mark” on the world. Uses stories of real world experiences. Includes a list of addresses for finding more information on the people and organizations discussed in the book.

 

Business Start-up Handbook: Guidelines and Pitfalls (Sundt)

Provides beginning entrepreneurs with guidelines for starting their own business. Issues confronted by a start-up businessman covered in a brief, succinct manner.

 

Cases in Strategic Management (Hill, Charles W.L.)

Gives a variety of case studies and also analyzes the strategies used by many different industries like computers, automotive, etc.

 

The Color Code (Hartman, Taylor)

Uses a 45 question personality profile to help gain insight into the world around you. Helps you: identify your “primary color,” read others accurately and easily, enhance your business performance, and improve your relationships with yourself and others.

 

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting Your Own Business (Paulson / Layton)

A one-stop resource for the budding entrepreneur. Information on e-commerce, how to deal with finance, how to hire employees, understanding taxes and growing your business.

 

The Complete Speaker (Peterson, Stephan, & White)

Introduction to public speaking. Emphasizes listening in addition to speaking. Includes material on planning, preparing, and giving speeches for every occasion.

 

Communication and Human Behavior (Ruben)

Looks at human communication as a fundamental life process from the level of individual to organizations and society. Covers things such as: definitions and theories, basic function, message reception and interpretation, verbal and nonverbal codes, relationships, groups, organizations, etc.

 

Conceptual Selling (Miller / Heiman)

A revolutionary new system for face-to-face selling that's used by some of America's best companies.

 

Crucial Conversations (Patterson, Grenny, McMillan)

Gives a seven-point strategy for achieving your goals in all of the emotionally, psychologically, or legally charged situations that you encounter in your personal and professional life.

 

The Culture of Entrepreneurship (Berger, Brigitte)

 

Customers Run Your Company: They Pay the Bills! (Kearney, Bandley, Anderson)

 

Dealers of Lightning (Hiltzik, Michael)

Chronicles the beginnings of the technological revolution. Gives a look at the ideas, inventions, and individuals that jumped Xerox PARC to the leading edge of technohistory.

 

Educating Zion (Welch, Norton)

 

Education for Judgment (Christensen, Garvin, & Sweet)

Discusses how to effectively teach using discussion teaching. Gives a variety of experiences to help understand how effective discussion-based teaching can be.

 

The Effective Entrepreneur (Russell)

An informative, easy-to-read book that gives specifics for successful entrepreneurial startups. Also offers highly effective methods to build and protect your assets as well as identify the “Bad Guys.”

 

Effective Small Business Management (Scarborough / Zimmerer)

Gives practical, hands-on advice in every area of concern for small business students. For example: business plans, marketing, promotion, computers, location, purchasing, HR management, etc.

 

The E-Myth Revisited (Gerber)

Dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows you how some common assumptions get in the way of your business’ success. Also discusses the difference between working in your company and working on your company.

 

Entrepreneur America (Ur's Fiel)

Offers methods for building a sustainable business that makes money. Emphasizes the importance of testing your idea on customers, building the product, and making sure it offers something new to your customers.

 

Entrepreneurs Are Made, Not Born (Ur's Fiel)

A treasure chest of how-to wisdom taken from over 200 entrepreneurs such as Ben Cohen and Debbi Field. Author draws from each person’s experiences to compile targeted lessons in entrepreneurship.

 

Entrepreneur's Field Book (Vinturella)

Combines theory, hands-on activities and experiences from a successful entrepreneur. Covers Entrepreneurship, Market Research and Analysis, Startup Alternatives, etc. A practical book for anyone interested in entrepreneurship.

 

The Entrepreneurial Experience (Dyer)

Uses in-depth interviews and case studies to examine the emotional side of business. Gives strategies entrepreneurs use to cope with the loneliness, stress, and isolation often encountered. Uncovers problems entrepreneurs confront at each stage of their careers.

 

Entrepreneurship (Hisrich / Peters)

 

The Ernst & Young Guide to Taking Your Company Public (Blowers, Ericksen, & Milan)

Provides essential info on how the process of going public works. Includes what it means to become a public company, who should be involved, underwriting your offering, alternative financing resources, etc.

 

Essentials of Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management (Zimmerer / Scarborough)

“ The tool that today's students need to master the most essential issues involved in starting and managing a successful new business venture.”

 

Essentials of Small Business (Rene)

 

Ethics and the Management of Financial Institutions (Rene)

 

Everyone is a Customer (Rene)

 

Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser)

Hard-hitting exposé on the Fast Food industry, uncovering everything from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to why cholesterol is the least of your worries. Reminiscent of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.” Warning! May turn you from fast food forever. Seriously.

 

First, Break All the Rules (Buckinham, Coffman)

Tells why the greatest managers in the world never hesitate to break every rule within conventional wisdom. Tells how they get away with it and why they succeed.

 

First Thing's First (Covey, Merrill)

Guide to time management through teaching how to balance your life. “Provides you with a compass because where you’re headed is more important than how fast you’re going.”

 

The First-Time Supervisor's Survival Guide (George Fuller)

Helps first-time supervisors overcome problems and challenges accompanying their new position. Includes advice on overcoming fears and anxieties of supervising others, and shows readers how to establish authority and gain worker co-operation

 

Fish!

Drawing lessons from Seattle’s Pike Place Market, it tells how to motivate and energize your team. Using quality, yet corny, stories, it imparts the skills of motivational management.

 

The Fortune Guide for Enterprising Women (Fortune Magazine)

 

Further Up the Organization (Townsend)

 

The Game of Work (Coonradt)

 

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got (Abraham, Jay)

Focuses on spotting all the hidden assets, overlooked opportunities, and untapped resources all around us. Shows how to apply these new tools to your personal life to achieve maximum income, power, and success.

 

Getting to Yes (Fisher / Ury / Patton)

Universal guide to the art of negotiation in personal and professional disputes. Offers strategies for how to come to agreements in every sort of conflict.

 

Glorious Accidents (Glauser)

Contains several valuable lessons using real-world examples from successful entrepreneurs. Helps evaluate your current position vs. where you would like to be.

 

The Goal (Goldratt, Cox)

Introduces the Theory of Constraints and is changing how America does business. Offers suggestions on how to overcome barriers and make money. Teaches the fundamentals of solving problems created by constraints.

 

A Goal is a Dream With a Deadline (Helzel)

Parallels the process of starting and running a business, from the first inspiration through going public. Has over four hundred clever, pragmatic observations to help you in meeting the challenges all entrepreneurs face.

 

Good to Great (Jim Collins)

Outlines the common traits between eleven of the world’s most successful companies. Includes dozens of stories and real-world examples from the greatest companies as well as the not-so-great. Offers a road map to excellence that any organization can follow.

 

The Greatest Salesman in the World (Og Mandino)

An invaluable guide to a philosophy of salesmanship. Makes the principles of sales known to a wide audience. Set in the time just before Christianity, weaving mythology and spirituality into an inspirational message for this self-promoting culture.

 

Guerilla Advertising (Jay Levinson)

 

Guerilla Financing (Jay Levinson)

 

Guerilla Marketing (Jay Levinson)

 

Guerilla Selling (Jay Levinson)

 

Gung Ho! (Blanchard / Bowles)

Outlines the best ways to increase productivity by promoting excellent morale in the workplace. Using stories of business leaders Peggy Sinclair and Andy Longclaw, it reveals the secret of boosting enthusiasm and performance in any organization. Discusses “The Spirit of the Squirrel,” “The Way of the Beaver,” and “The Gift of the Goose.”

 

Hiring the Best (Yate, Martin)

Uses over four hundred probing questions to investigate the important areas of capability in a new hire. Analyzes the pros and cons of hiring temp workers, part-time, consultants, and independent contractors.

 

How to Make Millions With Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide (Kennedy, Dan S.)

Gives numerous examples of how real people have “reinvented” their ideas. Includes ideas on how to market and spread your products or ideas, giving them the publicity they need. Teaches you how to get a slice of the millions that are out there.

 

How to Write a Winning Business Plan (Mancuso, Joseph R.)

A clear, step-by-step system for writing business plans to attract the necessary financing. Reveals things like: what financiers look for, how to romance the money men, how to handle objections, nine questions that every plan must answer, and more.

 

I Don't Have to Make Everything All Better (Lundberg)

Gives insight into the important skill of “human validation.” Provides guidance in how to improve relationships with partners, children, coworkers, etc. Teaches how to empower others to fix their own problems.

 

The Innovator's Dilemma (Christensen)

Shows how innovations like Intel’s 8088 and Honda’s Supercub were able to cut into the low end of their markets and eventually displace the reigning companies. Says that every company is susceptible to failure and tells how to avoid it.

 

Inside the Tornado (Moore)

Guide to the high-stakes world of high-tech. Explores the new high-tech landscape and its implications for business strategy. Provides guidelines for moving products past the early adopters and into the mainstream market.

 

Jesus, Entrepreneur (Jones)

Beyond entrepreneurism there is “spiritreneurism.” This work allows you to do well by doing right. Shows how to find soul satisfaction in your work. Says “there is no contradiction between earning a comfortable living as you use your job to promote your deepest spiritual and personal beliefs.”

 

Launching New Ventures (Allen)

Uses a conversational approach to focus on the process and activities required before a startup can open for business. Also uses real world case studies, new venture checklists, and the author’s own experiences.

 

Light from the Dust (Proctor & Proctor)

A photographic exploration into the ancient world of the Book of Mormon.

 

Managing the Obvious (Coonradt)

 

The Millionaire Next Door (Stanley, Danko)

Gives seven simple rules for joining the ranks of America’s wealthy, including: always live well below your means, choose your occupation wisely, etc. Also includes commonsensical conclusions that show how wealth comes only through sacrifice, discipline, and hard work.

 

New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur (Stevenson / Roberts / Grousbeck)

A combination of Harvard Cases and text that examines entrepreneurial processes from the initial idea all the way to harvest. Provides the knowledge and skills required for entrepreneurs as well as ideas for those in a more structured business setting.

 

New Venture Creation (Timmons / Smollen / Dingee)

 

New Venture Creation (Revised) (Timmons)

 

New Venture Financing (Ollivier)

 

New Venture Mechanics (Stevenson / Groesbeck / Roberts)

Covers a lot of the “nuts and bolts” issues of entrepreneurship. Illustrates how venture ideas are refined, developed, protected and implemented. Covers topics such as: venture capital, starting operations, equity capital, advertising, and accounting.

 

New Venture Modules (Cadenhead / Smilor)

 

Nothing Ventured (Kunze)

Explains the process of venture capital. Includes case histories to describe the processes of creating a product prototype, refinancing for production and sales development, patent concerns, etc.

 

Oh, the Places You'll Go (Dr. Seuss)

A light-hearted, thoroughly encouraging little book that opens your eyes to all the many possibilities lying on the horizon, just waiting for a bright young mind like yours to discover. A must-read.

 

A Passion for Success (Inamori)

Outlines an approach to wisdom and success considered revolutionary even in Japan. The ideal fusion of inspiration and incomparable business genius. Includes the author’s reflections on ability, effort, attitude, profit, ambition, sincerity, optimism, strength, etc.

 

Patent It Yourself (David Pressman)

A step-by-step guide to patenting your ideas. Takes you through everything from conducting a patent search to filing a successful application. Also covers documenting the process, marketing strategies, foreign patent rights, infringement, etc.

 

People at Work (Timm, Peterson)

Discusses the psychological and social pressures everyone experiences when they interact with each other in the workplace. Shows how human behaviors and relationships play an important part in daily life. Also includes self-evaluative exercises and learning projects.

 

People Power (Kearney & Bandley)

 

Persuasion (Shavitt & Brock)

 

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (Ries / Trout)

Deals with how to communicate in an “overcommunicated society.” Shows how to create a position in the customer’s mind that reflects well on the company.

 

Prescription for Success (Morgan)

Tells the story of how Ewing Marion Kauffman started his own pharmaceutical company in his basement in 1950 and turned it into a multi-billion dollar company by 1989.

 

Principle Centered Leadership (Covey)

Presents a long-term, inside-out approach to developing people and organizations. Offers insights and guidelines that can help you apply these principles both at work and at home.

 

Rags to Riches: Motivating Stories of How Ordinary People Achieved Extraordinary Wealth! (Liberman, Gail / Lavine, Alan)

Gives motivating stories of how ordinary people achieved extraordinary wealth. Tells how to turn your ordinary life experiences into money making opportunities.

 

Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business (Hammer / Champy)

Describes how the extreme redesign of any company’s processes, organization, and culture can achieve an enormous leap in performance. Explains how to save more money, raise customer satisfaction, and grow a more nimble company.

 

Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Kiyosaki, Robert T.)

Uses the author’s own personal experiences with his own dad, a well educated but fiscally poor man, and his best friend’s dad, an eighth grade dropout who became a self-made multi-millionaire.

 

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing (Kiyosaki, Robert T.)

Illuminates the topic of the difference between a rich man’s investments and a poor or middle class man’s. Using the author’s best friend’s dad’s analogy of Monopoly: “Buy four green houses, trade for one red hotel, then repeat until you’re rich.”

 

The Richest Man in Babylon (George S. Clason)

Reveals the success secrets of the ancients through a number of Babylonian parables. Uses straightforward, easy to understand principles to introduce the most basic rules of growing wealth.

 

Sales Management (Ingram / Laforge / Schwepker)

 

Sales Promotion Management (Quelch, John)

 

Secrets of Closing the Sale (Ziglar's, Zig)

Provides what’s necessary to be successful in the world of selling. Uses interesting and humorous stories, step-by-step actions, and exact scripts for sales people to use in specific situations.

 

Secrets of the Young and Successful (Kushell / Kaufman)

Explains how youth and inexperience can work for you, even if you don’t have an incredible resume or big-time connections. Reveals steps and strategies for charting an unconventional path to success.

 

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey)

Gives a holistic, principle-centered approach for solving professional and personal problems. Reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity.

 

The Shamrock Way (Kaufman)

 

A Shop of One's Own (Victoria)

Introduces female entrepreneurs who created a niche in the retail market. Gives their success and failure stories, as well as practical advice and some insider secrets that will provide invaluable lessons for fledgling shopowners.

 

Simple Steps to Impossible Dreams (Scott)

Gives a set of specific strategies and techniques called “Power Secrets” that will enable you to live the impossible dreams. Lists common techniques used by the world’s most successful men and women, such as: overcoming fear of failure, turning critics into friends, igniting the fuel of passion, gaining a clear and precise vision, etc.

 

Six Thinking Hats (De Bono, Edward)

Uses case studies and real life examples of the author’s own “six thinking hats.” Shows how everyone can become a better thinker through deliberate role-playing.

 

Small Business Management (Longenecker / Moore / Perry)

Guides readers into the ranks of business owners and entrepreneurs. Uses the author’s own background in management, marketing, and finance to deliver a balanced approach to covering all aspects of starting and running a small business.

 

Small Business Management: Entrepreneurship and Beyond

 

Smart Women Finish Rich

Shows women how to take control of their financial future and finish rich. Offers a nine-step program for spending wisely, establishing security, and aligning your money with your values. Includes critical long-term investment advice, information on teaching your kids about money, and internet resources.

 

Strategic Management Theory (Charles W.L. Hill)

An introduction to strategic management. Utilizes real-world experiences as well as easy-to-use charts, graphs and diagrams. Used as standard text in many universities' business classes.

 

The Successful Business Plan (Abrams)

A complete, step-by-step guide to researching and writing a fool-proof, perfectly formatted, knock’em dead business plan. Packed with insider tips and insightful advice on writing and formatting a business plan that will stand out from the crowd.

 

Technical Writing for Social Scientists (Harris & Blake)

 

Technical Writing in a Corporate World (Estrin & Elliot)

 

The Truth in Money Book (Thoren / Warner)

Explains what the Federal Reserve is, how it works, and why it does and doesn’t work. Easy to understand and important for understanding why you never have enough money and are always running to catch up.

 

The Utah Entrepreneur's Guide (Larson, Nelson)

Shows how to start and manage a business in Utah. Has chapters covering the stages of business growth, development of business ideas, patents, trademarks, copyrights, marketing research, etc.

 

Venture Capital & Private Equity (Lerner & Hardymon)

Presents a collection of real world cases as well as detailed industry notes. Explores the world of venture capital and buyout funds. Describes how private equity groups reap returns from successful investments.

 

Weaving the Web (Fischetti, Mark)

Reveals the Internet’s origins and shares views on censorship, privacy, etc. from the inventor of the internet (no, not Al Gore) Tim Berners-Lee. Offers insights into the true nature of the internet and shows how to use it to its fullest advantage.

 

The Wisdom of Teams (Smith)

Reveals the most important element in team success, who excels at team leadership and why they are rarely the most senior people, and why companywide change depends on teams.

 

A Woman's Guide to the Language of Success (Mindell)

Documents the differences between how men and women communicate and their effects in the workplace and in personal situations. Provides a practical guide for women on how to use language to persuade, succeed, and be more assertive.

 

Working Solo (Lonier)

An easy-to-read guide to solo success. Packed with nuts-and-bolts information, money tips, and insight into getting your one-person enterprise off the ground and making it a long-term success.

 

Working Toward Zion (Lucas / Woodworth)

 

The Young Entrepreneur's Edge (Kushell, Jennifer)

Says the author, “It’s not so much a how-to-start-a-business book as it is a how-to-cope-with-life-while-starting-and-succeeding-in-your-own-business book.” Teaches some tricks of the trade to compete successfully in a business world with more experienced people and much bigger companies.

 

Your First Business Plan (Covello & Hazelgren)

Simplifies the process of creating your first business plan by outlining all the parts of a successful business plan in a simple question and answer style. Shows how to capture lenders’ and investors’ interest, recognize your unique selling advantages, etc.

 

The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting and Running a Business (Mariotti)

Filled with real, inspirational stories of young people finding success in the business world. Uses examples like Bill Gates, Berry Gordy, etc. Also provides a step-by-step pathway to start your own business.