Considering Entrepreneurship? 11 Books to Help You Take the Leap

I was 21 when I went on my first deployment to sea, and like many people in their early 20s, I struggled with most parts of my life.

Mentally, emotionally, personally, and professionally, I was lost. I searched for answers, but I didn’t have many resources around me to gain valuable insight from.

So I turned to books.

Any questions I had, I would answer them in the form of a book. The Kindle store became my new Google, and over years, I devoured any book that remotely promised to deliver the truths I sought.

Of the countless things I struggled to figure out at that time, one was: what do I want to be when I grow up?

The books below dotted my journey from employee to business owner. Most books I read during my deployments; however, there are some I read more recently that would have been helpful had I read them when I was just getting started.

Although I’d recommend many other books regarding the tactical side of running a business, I narrowed this list down to focus on the employee-to-entrepreneur transition only.

Why?

Because, the learning curve in this transition is steep. It can often feel like a mountain you’re not sure you’ll ever summit. Many people discount the work required to take this leap, but it is some of the most important work you will ever do if you want to become an entrepreneur.

It can be a lonely journey, and no one else but you can do it.

Because this education surrounds what you even believe to be possible in your own mind, it will ultimately determine if you ever take the leap and, more importantly, if you stay on the other side.

During a time of quarantine, uncertainty, and inevitable change, you may have contemplated how you want your life to look in the future. These books can help.

To help you answer the questions you grapple with most right now, I broke this list up into three categories:

• Break Away (From What You Know)
• Discover Your Own Power
• Embody the Right Mindset

No matter where you are on your journey, these books will help you successfully navigate the transition from employee to entrepreneur.

Break Away (From What You Know)

1. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
   Most people have heard of this book and for good reason. For me, it was the book that started everything. Tim Ferriss described his travels that were only made possible because he no longer had a job, and he explained how he no longer had to trade time for money. He illustrated the life of the “new rich,” and he showed that it was both possible and attainable.
   
   
2. Be A Free Range Human: Escape the 9-5, Create a Life You Love and Still Pay the Bills
   This book will also inspire you by showing you what’s possible. You’ll also learn how to break away from the employee mindset, especially if you are scared of what will happen when you take the leap.
   
   
3. Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur
   Another “escape” manual. Explore why you are unhappy with your current situation, weigh your options, and get the “how-to” in order to successfully become an entrepreneur.
   
   
4. Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love
   Another book that will teach you to break away from the employee mindset and transition into entrepreneurship, especially when you aren’t sure it’s possible. It will teach you how to profit professionally and, more importantly, how to create a life you also love.

Discover Your Own Power

1. Outwitting the Devil: The Secret to Freedom and Success
   This book, if digested properly, will frighten you. Many of us have been taught since we were young how to live and tolerate an unexceptional life. To become an entrepreneur and create the wealth you seek, you must wake up and actively avoid the forces in your life that keep you ordinary. It is a constant effort, and knowing how mediocrity persists in our lives is half the battle.
   
   
2. Finding Your Way in a Wild New World: Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want
   This book transcends business ownership (and most other boundaries for that matter). Finding Your Way in a Wild New World teaches you why you must ignore the noise around you, learn who you are, and discover what your purpose is on Earth. From the introduction:
   
   “Freedom and health for your deepest, truest self is essential for thriving in this strange, unprecedented time, when authenticity often equals attention, which equals value, which equals prosperity.”
   
   
3. The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal
   If you ever find yourself saying, “I don’t have the time,” you need to read this book NOW. This book will reframe your idea of where productivity and success actually comes from. It comes down to how you manage your ENERGY–physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy. Once you realize how much energy can propel your success or hinder it, you will no longer worry about how much time you have, and you will instead quickly figure out how to manage yourself best so you can live your life best.

Embody the Right Mindset

1. Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom
   If I had to pick one book that opened my eyes to the transformation I needed to make to shift from employee to business owner, this – is – it. Being a business owner isn’t about what you do, as much as it is about how you think and, in turn, who you are. You cannot move forward until you achieve a fuller understanding of what makes a business owner fundamentally different than you. This book gives you a “north star” to navigate by.
   
   
2. Think and Grow Rich
   A classic. This is about the mindset you need to have (and the mindset you need to let go of) if you want to make room for abundance and wealth in your life. Napoleon Hill explains specific techniques to “hack” your brain so it serves as a tool (and no longer a hindrance) in your quest for a better and more prosperous life.
   
   
3. The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime
   Another book that upends the employee mindset but specifically the one that believes wealth only happens after a lifetime of hard work. Wealth can happen can quickly as you want it to, and this book shows you how that’s possible. If you’re not happy where you are right now and are looking for a voice from the “other side” to help guide you in the right direction, look no further.
   
   
4. The 10 Pillars of Wealth: Mind-Sets of the World’s Richest People
   The theme of this book is: you are ultimately responsible for your success or failure. It’s not your boss’s/husband’s/kid’s fault. It’s you. The upside of this harsh discovery is that if you truly believe in your self-agency, business ownership will always reward your efforts, and the rewards are limitless! That’s the beauty behind the concept of self-responsibility, and this book is an exploration of (and indoctrination in) this important lesson.

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