This Year, Finally Launch Your Business With The Advice From These Books

In recent years, the number of solopreneurs has exploded. So much so that, according to recent studies, 65 million Americans identify as solopreneurs, making up about 40 percent of the workforce.
Solopreneurs have one habit in common: reading. All the information you need to succeed in business can be found in bestselling books. For this reason, Blinkist was made, a mobile knowledge app that gives you actionable tips from the world’s best nonfiction books in 15 minutes or less.
Using the app, you can read actionable advice from bestselling books or listen to the audio versions on the go. Blinkist offers more than 5,500 titles in 27 categories, so you can choose what you want to learn.
–Holger Seim, CEO of Blinkist
The following are just four of the nine essential books every solopreneur should read that are available in the Blinkist collection, 9 Days to Solopreneur Success. Every aspiring business owner can learn from this collection of tips on how to fund your startup and practical strategies for going solo.
So, if you’re just starting on your entrepreneurial journey, these tips will give you the knowledge you need to excel. Let’s get started.
1. Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business by Paul Jarvis
Company of One
- 30 min reading time
- audio version available
In Company of One, Paul Jarvis argues that a “company of one” is simply a business that questions growth. It is not always the most advantageous or viable move to grow. There are numerous business tips, ideas, and suggestions that will help you start the business of your dreams by unthinking the typical business model, and by staying small, you can achieve success.
You are more likely to succeed if you have a smaller audience, according to Jarvis. Instead of investing heavily upfront, he suggests making small profits online to build a cash flow that will help you launch your business. The best time to start a business is when you are on someone else’s payroll–don’t quit your day job as you embark on your journey. For those who have always wanted to start their own business but have been intimidated by the prospect, this book is perfect.
2. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
The Lean Startup
- 18 min reading time
- audio version available
Eric Ries’ book, The Lean Startup, will teach you how to build and manage a successful startup, whether you’re a solopreneur or an entrepreneur with a small business.
Anyone who has been there knows that a dream is only a dream until you take action. Be sure to pick up this book; it has some valuable advice to share. Entrepreneur Eric Ries has a successful business. He co-founded IMVU, a social network using 3D avatars. As a consultant and public speaker, he is in high demand today.
“As you consider building your own minimum viable product, let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek.”
3. The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki
The Art of the Start
- 20 min reading time
- audio version available
This essential guide for anyone starting anything, from a multinational corporation to a church group, draws on Guy Kawasaki’s two decades of experience as one of business’s most original and irreverent strategists. He helped Apple become one of the greatest companies of the century in the 1980s, turning ordinary consumers into evangelists. His ideas have been field-tested with dozens of newly hatched companies as founder and CEO of Garage Technology Ventures.
From raising money to hiring the right people, from defining your positioning to creating a brand, from creating buzz to buzzing the competition, from managing a board to fostering a community, this book guides you through an adventure that’s more art than science-the art of getting started.
4. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Actionby Simon Sinek
Start with Why
- 22 min reading time
- audio version available
The next book on this list tackles a fundamental question: What makes some organizations and people more innovative, influential, and profitable than others? Start With Why is based on best-selling author Simon Sinek’s hugely influential lecture of the same name, the third most-watched TED talk of all time; these blinks unpack the answer to that conundrum. As Sinek’s examples from the business world, politics, and technology show, it’s all about asking “Why?” rather than “What?”
A Book Explained in 15 Minutes
There are so many things to learn from nonfiction books, but only so much time to read them. Blinkist solves that problem by distilling the key insights from a book into an explainer that you can read or listen to for 15 minutes.
–TechCrunch
You’ll get powerful ideas, actionable advice, and real-life case studies from a book in a fraction of the time.
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