2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP RANKING BEST BOOKS ON STARTING A BUSINESS
Learn From the Best with a Start-Your-Own-Business Book
Whether you are completely new to the start-up world, or you are sifting through tons of information to learn the ins and outs of starting your own business, small business books can come in handy.
There is a lot to learn when you are starting your own business. From hiring employees to taking care of your own taxes, everything you have to do can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, there are tons of start-up books that can help you on your journey.
When you start your own business, starting off on the right foot is extremely important, which is what books for start-ups help with. Without a solid foundation, your business may get off to a slow start, ultimately crashing without enough momentum to keep it thriving.
Experts who have been through the process of starting their own businesses lend their expertise in some of the best books on start-ups. But, there are so many books for start-ups available on today’s market, as the Internet makes more room for budding entrepreneurs than ever before.
Award Emblem: Top 6 Best Start-Up Books
In fact, small businesses with five or less employees make up about 62% of all United States businesses. But, are all of them successful? Unfortunately, no. About one-third of businesses will fail within their first two years.
Even if you think you have it all figured out, you probably don’t. This is where the best books for start-ups can help. This guide features six of the best books for starting a business to help you get started on the right foot.
This review of books for start-ups takes into consideration the depth of information, expertise of the author, and customer reviews. These books on how to start a business cover everything you need to know to be a successful business owner, including tax information, time management, creating a solid business idea and plan, productivity, and more.
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AdvisoryHQ’s List of the Top 6 Best Books for Starting a Business
List is sorted alphabetically (click any of the book names below to go directly to the detailed review section for that book):
- Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money by Pat Flynn
Top 6 Best Books on Starting a Business | Brief Comparison & Ranking
Books on Starting a Business | Publishing Year | Main Topic | Details |
| Rework | 2010 | A minimalistic approach to becoming more productive | 288 pages; ISBN-13: 978-0307463746 |
| Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble | 2016 (14th edition) | Keeping track of business finances | 280 pages; ISBN-13: 978-1630762612 |
| The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich | 2009 | Time management | 416 pages; ISBN-13: 978-0307465351 |
| The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything | 2015 | Utilize modern technology to create a successful business | 336 pages; ISBN-13: 978-1591847847 |
| The Lean Startup | 2011 | Continuous innovation to create successful products and businesses | 336 pages; ISBN-13: 978-0307887894 |
| Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money | 2016 | Creating and testing a solid business idea | 336 pages; ISBN-13: 978-0997082302 |
Table: Top 6 Best Books on Starting a Business | Above list is sorted alphabetically
What Will I Need to Know as a New Business Owner?
With owning a small business comes freedom and flexibility. You are your own boss and have control over your business, your employees, and your finances. But, with a business comes great responsibility, as you will soon learn from small business books. If you have never read the best books on start-ups, now is the time to start.
Navigating the world of creating a business is not easy. Often, business owners find out things along the way that they did not know when they started, leaving them going backward to cover their tracks. As the best start-up books will tell you, this is not what you want to do as a business owner.
According to business start-up books and successful business owners who have been in your position, here are some of the most important things you need to know before moving too far into your business:
- Competition. The best books for start-ups will often recommend knowing your competition. Why? Your competitors are who your business will be up against. You will need to find ways to be different and more innovative than others in your industry.
- Your numbers. Business start-up books and expert entrepreneurs stress the importance of crunching numbers before you begin your business. You need to understand the relationship between your expenses and profits so you know how much you can afford for inventory, employee paychecks, and keeping your business afloat.
- Taxes. Some start-up books focus specifically on pinpointed information, like taxes. Your own taxes and your employees’ taxes are your responsibility as a business owner, and it is important that you know how to navigate the tax system.
- Incorporating culture. Even small businesses should incorporate culture. Your business likely will not thrive if your employees are not happy. As business start-up books will tell you, creating an innovative, helpful, embracing atmosphere is one of the keys to a successful business, even if you only have a few employees.
- Time management and productivity. One of the biggest themes in books on starting a business is helping you and your employees become more productive by managing your time wisely. If you want your business to be as streamlined as possible, this is some of the most important information to read in a start-your-own-business book.
- Customer service. No matter what your business is, you have to understand and appreciate your customer, and the best start-up books will help you do so. Your customer service experience can truly make or break your business. 91% of customers who choose not to complain about your service will simply leave and not return. However, 55% of happy customers who had an excellent experience with your company are likely to pay more for your products or services! Authors of the best start-up books will likely reiterate the importance of excellent customer service.
Now you know some of the most important things to learn about starting a business. But, how can business start-up books help teach you?
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How Can Business Start-Up Books Help Me?
Start-up books are often written by experts. They were once in your position, learning how to create and build a business. Even those who write the best books for starting a business likely did not have immediate success.
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Once they learn how to be successful through their experiences, they pen books on how to start a business to help other budding entrepreneurs find success.
The best books on start-ups have some similar qualities:
- Best books on start-ups provide answers to your most pressing questions.
- The best books for start-ups provide takeaways for you to apply to your own business.
- Books on how to start a business provide real-life examples and advice from experts who found success.
- Books for start-ups are user-friendly, in that they are written with general terminology so even business owners with little to no experience can find the business start-up books helpful.
The small business books we included in this guide are all written by successful entrepreneurs who have plenty of real-life experiences to share. Additionally, these best start-up books provide detailed information about a variety of common business-building issues.
The best start-up books in this guide cover everything from creating and tweaking your business idea to managing your time wisely for ultimate productivity to making modern technology work for you and your business.
These best books for starting a business are also highly recommended by other business owners who have found success from the helpful information provided in the business start-up books.
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AdvisoryHQ’s Selection Methodology
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Detailed Review—Top Ranking Best Books for Starting a Business
Below, please find a detailed review of each “start your own business book” on our list of business start-up books. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these books on how to start a business to score so high in our selection ranking.
Rework Review
Rework is one of the most-recommended best start-up books for those who are looking for a more innovative, minimalistic approach to building a business. Unlike other books on starting a business, Rework suggests going against the grain of old business rules, like having a dedicated office or holding meetings with your team.
Although it sounds strange as a premise for one of the best books for starting a business, the alternative approaches outlined in this selection for small business books makes you think differently about your business.
This selection for books on starting a business is all about living in the moment, rather than making long-term plans that involve a lot of guessing rather than truths.
About the Authors
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson created this selection for books on starting a business. As the creators of 37Signals, an American web application company, both entrepreneurs have found a lot of success by helping businesses grow through the use of the Internet.
In fact, Hansson is credited as the creator of Ruby on Rails, a popular framework for programmers. Fried has turned 37Signals into Basecamp, a productivity application for businesses. Together, they share their expertise in start-up books, including Rework, that focus on their learned tactics to creating successful businesses without using traditional methods.
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Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble Review
Small Time Operator is, perhaps, one of the best start-up books for explaining one of the most confusing aspects of starting a business: accounting and taxes.
A highly recommended start-your-own-business book, this selection for books on starting a business will help you with some of the most important parts of starting your business, and factors that are, unfortunately, easy to forget before you start.
From getting your business officially licensed, obtaining permits, and creating a solid business plan, to funding your business, establishing a solid bookkeeping plan, and handling your personal and employee taxes, this is one of the best start-up books for helping you cover your legal bases.
About the Author
Bernard B. Kamoroff is a certified personal accountant (C.P.A.) with more than thirty years of experience in his field. He has written some of the best books for starting a business that involve the finances and other legalities that can break a business if not done correctly.
He owns three successful small businesses and created the first edition of Small Time Operator in the 1970s. It has since remained one of the best books for start-ups four decades later.
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich Review
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich is one of the best books for starting a business and teaching important time management skills. Some books on starting a business touch on the subject, but this selection for best books for starting a business focuses solely on managing time wisely and increasing productivity.
The 4-Hour Workweek helps small start-up owners learn how to outsource some of their work, work efficiently and remotely, and increase income while working less frequently. This start-your-own-business book is one of the “most highlighted” books of all time, according to Amazon.
About the Author
Tim Ferriss is a notable entrepreneur, listed on Forbes magazine’s list of “Names You Need to Know,” among other acclaims. The 4-Hour Workweek is known as one of the best books on starting a business and has been featured in BusinessWeek, the New York Times, and more.
Ferriss has made a name for himself for his start-up angel investments, giving him shares of companies like Uber, Twitter, Facebook, and Shopify.
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The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything Review
The Art of the Start 2.0 is the second version of Guy Kawasaki’s bestseller, known as one of the best books for starting a business. Kawalski’s second version of his books on starting a business takes all of the helpful information in the first version, and adds to it to include today’s technology.
Many of the newest best start-up books have information about using social media, crowdsourcing, and other modern tools to your advantage as a new business owner. However, this selection for best books for starting a business combines the purpose of these tools with tried and true tactics to create an entrepreneurial mindset.
About the Author
Guy Kawasaki made a name for himself as the chief evangelist of the online design tool, Canva. He also is a brand ambassador for Mercedes Benz, and has invested in or advises several companies, including Evernote, Paper.li, and TicketLeap.
Kawasaki has created some of the best business start-up books that help business owners keep up with the latest technology and entrepreneurial tactics. His best books for starting a business touch on the subjects start-up owners need to know, like becoming a powerful influencer, and finding success with social media for business.
The Lean Startup Review
The Lean Startup is included in this guide to best start-up books because it offers a much different approach than many other books on starting a business, yet it’s proven to be extremely effective. Unlike other books for start-ups that teach you to scrap an idea that isn’t working, The Lean Startup teaches you how to improve that idea so it will work.
This is one of the best start-up books for those who don’t want to see their initial business ideas fail. Instead, they want to learn the tools to improve their ideas to lead to a successful product, service, and business.
The Lean Startup will also help business owners continuously reevaluate their product or service so it can remain successful through a changing society.
About the Author
Eric Ries turned The Lean Startup into one of the best books for starting a business after finding his own success as an advisor of several technology start-ups. He has three start-ups of his own, and in 2007, Ries was named one of the “Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech” by BusinessWeek.
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Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money Review
Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So You Don’t Waste Your Time and Money is one of the most trusted books on starting a business. If you are a person with a plan who has not yet taken it into action, this is one of the best start-up books you can own.
Will It Fly? teaches budding entrepreneurs how to test their business ideas before rushing into a business. The idea behind this selection for best small business books is to keep potential businesses from failing as soon as they start. This book will give you the necessary tools to test an idea before carrying it out, so you do not waste funding, time, and resources.
About the Author
Pat Flynn is the creator of the money-making blog Smart Passive Income. Flynn focuses on teaching people to use their time wisely to create an income that works for them with as little energy as possible.
Flynn has created a few of the best books for starting a business using modern technology, that focus on tips for creating email lists, using affiliate marketing, and creating ebooks for passive income.
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Conclusion—Top 6 Best Start-Up Books
Start-up books can be helpful for entrepreneurs of every level of expertise. Whether you are just learning how to start a business, or you have been in business for 5 years, business start-up books can always teach you something new. There are several reasons a business can fail, even if you have a successful start to your business.
Books on starting a business can give you the tools you need to stay on top of your trade and edge out the competitors. New “Best Start-Up Books” are named each year.
Why? Because as technology and businesses evolve, so do successful business practices. Successful entrepreneurs pen new, up-to-date books on how to start a business to share their success with other business owners.
Fortunately, the entrepreneurial mindset is one that successful business owners like to share. They want to see others succeed by using their tools, hence the reason for authoring some of the best books on start-ups.
So, it is to your advantage to pick a few of the best start-up books that focus on areas where you struggle. At the very least, books on starting a business will allow you to look at your business from a new perspective so you can find areas to continue its growth.
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