Episode 75: 8 Highly-Recommended Business Books That Give Really Good Insights and Lessons For Small Business Owners
In this short tip episode, Fiona shares the top books she recommends every small business owner should read to help them grow their businesses. Listen now and if you think you have another book recommendation to share, DM Fiona at @mydailybusinesscoach on Instagram. She would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
On Decluttering
Book Recommendations
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
Superfans by Pat Flynn
Reboot by Jodie Fox
Passion. Purpose. Profit. by Fiona Killackey
Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow
Catch of The Decade by Gabby Leibovich and Hezi Leibovich
The Visual MBA by Jason Barron
Conclusion
Resources mentioned in this episode
Episode transcript:
Hello and welcome to episode 75 of the My Daily Business Coach Podcast.
75 - goodness me, we are like racing towards a hundred. I cannot get over that sometimes. And I know I mentioned this all the time, but if you are sitting on an idea in your business and you know, like in your heart of hearts, in your gut and your instinct, you know, that is going to be a good thing for my business. And it's something I would enjoy go for it. Like here is the sign you're looking for. Go for it. I love podcasting. I absolutely love it. And it is just been incredible for my business. So yeah. Thank you as well. If you're listening to this and sharing it with friends and family, because yeah, I'm blown away by how many people are downloading it, where they're downloading it from.
But I know that all of that is basically coming from people, sharing it and telling people about it and listening to it week in, week out. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But yes, if you're thinking about something, perhaps you're sort of like, "Oh, should I shouldn't I? And you somehow stumbled upon this episode today. Here's the universe saying, go for it. Although I should just say also, I always talk about how easy and amazing podcasting is. And of course I have my course how to start a podcast, which you can find at mydailybusinesscoach.com. But I did just literally stand in my office for about 10 minutes trying to shoo a fly towards the door. Cause I was like, I need to record a bunch of podcasts and I can't have this *buzzz* in the background. Other than that, it's pretty straightforward and a really great marketing medium. So go for it. All right. Before I spend too long, just talking in the intro, let's get into today's quick tip episode.
So, over the kind of Christmas Hanukkah, you know, end of year break that we have here in Australia. It's summer. I took four weeks off as I usually do at the end of the year or January. And part of what I did in that time was declutter. And I do that quite often. I'm definitely somebody who, you know, every few months is getting rid of stuff, going to the op shop, inevitably getting other stuff from the op shop to bring home. But we try to, you know, always make sure that we're getting rid of more stuff than we're letting it bring in. But part of that was getting rid of books and I'm somebody who grew up with a love of books. My parents were avid readers. They would choose through books. And we just had bookcases after bookcases growing up, just stacks of books everywhere.
And I still have, you know, I always have a stack of books next to me in bed, but yeah, I realized that we have a lot of books and I wasn't using all of them. Some of them were fiction. And I was like, that was an okay story. Or that was really crap actually could never really get into it. Or there were things that, you know, I'd read and I'd loved, but I was like, you know, who would really love this? You know, one of my friends and so I'd post the book out, but I did get rid of quite a few books, but I also looked at the books that really impacted me in my business and that I love. And then I come back to time and time again. And so I thought I would list out a couple of those today. And of course, if you're listening to this and you can't take notes, you know that the full show notes we'll include links to all of these along with a full transcript.
And you can find that over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/75 as this is episode 75. So let's get stuck into these books that I believe you won't be throwing out if it comes to decluttering, but rather they're, you know, they're books you'll refer back to and that really give good insights.
So in no particular order, the first one is the The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. And this is an absolute classic. It was, I think originally written like more than 30 years ago now, but it's revisited the new one that you'll get will be like The E-Myth Revisited, but it's close to 20 years old, even the revisited version, but the ideas and the concepts and the frameworks still run through. And if you're somebody who's always working in, rather than on their business, this is definitely a great book to invest your time into.
Now, part of my group coaching program, we have a business book club as part of that, and this is definitely a book that I've included in that so that everybody gets a copy and we come together and chat about it. Now, if you're interested in the upcoming group coaching program that will happen later this year, make sure you email us hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com and you can be put onto the waitlist. All right. So that's book one.
Book two. You've heard me talking about it, definitely on this podcast. You've heard me talking about it. If you're on my Sunday email Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. It's I absolutely love it. If you've listened to the interview with Kerryn Moscicski from radical. Yes. Who's just awesome. She talks about how much profit first completely overhauled their business and really changed her mindset about so many things around finances and money and all sorts of good things.
So definitely go back and listen to that episode if you haven't before it's episode 50, but yeah, profit first really talks you through how to make sure that you're actually a) taking home from the business, the amount of money that you want to take home, and it's going to work for your family, your lifestyle needs, but also to make sure that you come first, really your needs come first. You know, how much profit do you want to sit in the business? How much do you want to take home as owner's pay? And then using what's left as your expenses. Usually people go into business and they are like, okay. The business brings in, let's say the business brings in a hundred thousand. My expenses are 70,000. Therefore I have 30,000 left. Profit First totally switches that traditional model on its head. And it says your business brings in a hundred thousand in my lifestyle and everything else. I want to take home 50. Therefore I have 50 left for the other things in the business, including tax and expenses.
So it really makes you really look at your expenses and realize often what happens with clients that I know that use this, that the expenses are really high and you're actually running at a loss. And that's why you're not paying yourself as much as you want, because you're actually spending money on things you don't necessarily need. So Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, it's just awesome. All right.
Number three is Superfans by Pat Flynn. Now I'm a huge fan of Pat Flynn and I think he's just fantastic. And in a world of, you know, business gurus, there are a lot of fluffers. There are a lot who seem to do, I think, little more than amp up their own brand while giving, you know, next to no real advice or ideas.
And Pat Flynn is not one of those people. He is just awesome. I think I stumbled across him in 2014, he's been in this space for a long time. He was one of the first podcasters who was doing it from 2008. But yeah, I've just been a huge fan of his gentle, practical considered advice and his lack of self grandiose. Like when you see him talk, listen to his videos, he's just real. He just real, he's really nice guy. He's got kids, he's just trying to make a nice business and he's not flaunting it constantly. He's just a really cool guy, but this book, super fans is much like his earlier ones. And it is just full of quick ideas and tips for scaling your business by cultivating genuine connection.
Number four is Reboot by Jodie Fox. Now, if you're outside of Australia or the U S you may not have heard of Jodie Fox, but she is an Australian entrepreneur.
And I read this book in literally I think maybe like two days, I could not put it down. It was that engaging. And I have come from a career peppered with jobs in fashion retail, and worked in that space for quite some time. And I was well aware of the impact that Fox made when her company, which was called Shoes of Prey hit the scene because it was the first sort of fully customizable women's shoes. Like you could choose the fabric, you could choose the heel height, you could choose so many parts about it. And it seemed that she had landed upon this business idea that would just change the industry. And it grew rapidly. And she went to the U S she opened store there, but you know, the dream didn't pan out the way that she had hoped. And in this book, she takes you on a really transparent and honest, incredible journey through her professional and personal challenges and triumphs.
And I just thought it was really, well-written really easy to read and a great book. The only thing that I think actually led it down was I feel a bit bad saying this was the actual cover. Like I picked it up because I knew her name. You know, people do judge books by covers. They shouldn't, but they do. But yeah, it's really, really good book. It's called Reboot by Jodie Fox.
Next is Built to Sell by John Warrillow. And I have lost track of how often I've recommended this book to clients and students, because even if you never plan on selling your business, this book is just a must read. It's written as fiction. So it's written as a story, but it's really a business book and it details the story of a graphic design agency, founder, who is sick of working two ad hoc client briefs and unstable income and inefficiencies with his staff and sort of say, yes, we can do everything.
And so he seeks out a business coach and he begins this journey into creating a business that is literally built to sell. And I guess that's where the title comes from.
Number six, and I feel a bit awkward doing this, but, you know, I really do believe in it, Passion, Purpose, Profit, which is my book -Fiona Killackey. And I know it's a bit awkward to nominate that, but I really do believe that my book can help every small business owner get clearer on, you know, why they're in business, what they want to achieve, and the steps they'll need to take to get there. I receive emails and DMs literally daily, which is incredible and amazing. And I love it. Thank you from strangers all over the world, just pointing out how it's helped, what they've done, how they've changed things in their business. So if you haven't already get into Passion, Purpose, Profit, you can find it everywhere online. But if you are near a small business bookshop or gift store, please go and support them.
Number seven, we're almost through this is Catch of The Decade by Gabby Leibovich and Hezi Leibovich. And I started reading this earlier, maybe at the end of last year or towards the end of it. And I have to say it had me engaged right from the start. Again, Australian business owners who just really smart guys, brothers came out from, I think it was Israel, or they came, they fled the Lebanon war in the 1980s, and they came to Australia and they literally started by selling things at a market, which is quite close to where I grew up. And so I used to actually go to that market. And so that, I guess, you know, I had this affinity to it and this familiarity with it, but they then have grown to huge businesses.
They've grown catch, which is sort of like Amazon over here. They sold it. They've grown eat now, which became menu log, which is kind of like Uber eats. And they just have done such good work. And a lot of the time, you know, on the smell of an oily rag. So really, really inspiring, interesting, real story with a lot of good tactics and tips that's called Catch of the Decade.
And the last one is The Visual MBA by Jason Barron. And if you're somebody who learns more from visuals than text, which I think is an estimated 65% of the population. So, you know, if you see a diagram, you remember it more than if you read a page about that sort of framework, but this book is, is totally visual. And while completing his MBA, the author and the illustrator Jason Barron would kind of sketch out the business concepts that he was learning while he was studying. And this book really pulls all of those sketches together in a way that makes learning about everything from money management, through to marketing, you know, simple and enjoyable.
So those are eight books that I know you won't get rid of. They're the books that you'll come back to, or that you'll lend to business friends or gift to people. So definitely think if you haven't already read some of them, make sure you do again, all the links to those books and the full transcript can be found over at my deli business, coach.com forward slash podcast forward slash 75. So I'm definitely someone who loves books and I own a house and a garden shed filled with books even after decluttering. And I grew up in a house, like I said, at the start, that was just wall-to-wall lined with books. And my dad in his later years volunteered to set up a secondhand bookshop.
So suffice to say, I feel like books offer the perfect affordable way to access new ideas, potential paths, forwards, and kind of wisdom from those who've been where you might be right now. So while there are a lot of fluffy business books or books aimed at people who want to create, you know, global multi-million huge empires, the eight that I've listed are perfect for any small business owner and really any stage that they're at. So that is it for today's quick tip episode.
If you found this useful, I would absolutely love it. If you can leave a review or hit the stars, it just really, really helps me get found by other small business owners like you. And of course, if you found it useful, come on over to Instagram and tell me which book you love, which book should have made the list, but didn't, I'm just at @mydailybusinesscoach. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
Bye. Thanks
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
