I was asked recently why I was always reading a business book and my answer was very simple: development. After all, you can always learn. Plus, the more you know, the easier things become.
One of the benefits I find is that by reading more than one book on any given subject is that I learn more. The reason is that one author will explain a subject slightly differently to another and this difference, plus the repetition, helps me to fix things in my head. Even then, I can always learn more about the subject.
What is most important as a business Start-Up, SME, is that you learn, continue to learn and develop. If you come from the corporate world things are very different in the world of small business, and if you are an expert in your chosen field that doesn’t make you an expert in business. So, you must learn if you are going to achieve real business success.
The more you learn and understand about business, not only will you be increasing the odds of you staying in business, but it is likely that you will have more fun and make more money along the way.
Every book you don’t read won’t help you, and, what is more, every book you don’t read can’t help your business. So, please buy or borrow a business book today and just see what a difference it makes to the way you do business. Almost any business book will be of benefit, but think about one of three areas: what you are good at, what you are not so good at, and motivation. Then choose something that covers one of those areas.
And, don’t just think you have to read. Audio books and CDs are ideal for the car, train, plane, etc.
Here are a few books that I can highly recommend: The Jelly Effect by Andy Bounds, Playing with Fire by Gordon Ramsay and The E Myth by Michael E Gerber. Each will make an amazing difference to your business and could completely change the way you run your company.
