When I think of September, I often think of starting a fresh school year. In honour of starting fresh or doubling down on your goals for the last four months of the year, I want to share some productivity or self-help type books that might help you in your endeavours.
For this week, I wanted share with you some books that would be useful if you’re starting a business. These are books that I found helpful while starting and developing this blog.
Starting a business or online presence (with the hope of earning money), can be so intimidating. There’s so much information and so much you feel you need to learn, sometimes you don’t know where to start.

For this list, I tried to give recommendations for a specific purpose and that each book has a different purpose. Everyone has different levels of understanding and maybe you only need a little guidance with marketing, or maybe you need a little bit of help in all areas (I know I did!). It’s fantastic what you can learn from books; I’m constantly amazed at the knowledge available to us.
All of these books are entry-level, meaning you don’t need to have any experience or have taken any courses to understand the contents. I found they were easy to understand, yet still practical enough to give you the concepts and tools that you can implement in your business.
I find the best way to dive into these kinds of books is to listen to them as an audiobook. Often times they will come with an accompanying pdf to show you key diagrams. Then, once you have a decent grasp on the overall concepts and ideas, I like to look at the physical book for the specific sections that I want to study or better grasp the details.
💡 Tip! Your library is a great resource for these kinds of books, especially if you’re not sure how helpful it will be. You can even borrow audiobooks from your library! You just need to link your library card to the app Libby (it’s free).
These are all fairly popular books, so it’s likely that the library will have either a physical and/or audiobook version. Plus, once you’ve familiarized yourself with the book through the library, you can decide if you want to own a version of it yourself as a reference book.
If you don’t have access to a library, you can always look on Youtube for book summaries or even a copy of the audiobook. Another great tip is to search the title of the book with “pdf” and often you’ll be able to find supplemental material related to the book that might give you a good introduction to the concepts.
Five books to help you start your business
Here’s a list of five books to help you start your business.
- Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans (2016)
- Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller (2017)
- The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath & Dan Heath (2017)
- This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See by Seth Godin (2018)
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear (2018)
Keep reading to find out more about each one. I’ve listed them in order of when they were published.
Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You (2016)
by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

- Year Published: 2016
- Storygraph Categories:
nonfiction, self help, informative, reflective, medium-paced - Provides practical activities for you to understand what you really want and build the life that you want
At last, a book that shows you how to build–“design”–a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage
Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home–at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve.
In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to “design and build “your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen (2017)
by Donald Miller

- Year Published: 2017
- Storygraph Categories:
nonfiction, business, informative, inspiring, fast-paced - Teaches you how to turn your brand into a story to better reach your audience
Seven proven elements of powerful stories that will dramatically improve the way you connect with your customers and drastically grow your business.
Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides listeners with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching listeners the seven universal story points all humans respond to, the real reason customers make purchases, how to simplify a brand message so people understand it, and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media.
Whether you are the marketing director of a multibillion-dollar company, the owner of a small business, a politician running for office, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- Goodreads
- Storygraph
- Author’s Website
- Wikipedia
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact (2017)
by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

- Year Published: 2017
- Storygraph Categories:
nonfiction, business, psychology, self help, informative, inspiring, medium-paced - Teaches you how to build in memorable moments within your business and personal life
The New York Times bestselling authors of Switch and Made to Stick explore why certain brief experiences can jolt us and elevate us and change us—and how we can learn to create such extraordinary moments in our life and work.
While human lives are endlessly variable, our most memorable positive moments are dominated by four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection. If we embrace these elements, we can conjure more moments that matter.
Many of the defining moments in our lives are the result of accident or luck—but why would we leave our most meaningful, memorable moments to chance when we can create them? The Power of Moments shows us how to be the author of richer experiences.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- Goodreads
- Storygraph
- Author’s Website
- Wikipedia
- On the authors – Chip Heath & Dan Heath
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See (2018)
by Seth Godin

- Year Published: 2018
- Storygraph Categories:
nonfiction, business, informative, lighthearted, medium-paced - A good overview of marketing for those that have never learned about marketing
#1 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER & INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A game-changing approach to marketing, sales, and advertising.
For the first time Seth Godin offers the core of his marketing wisdom in one compact, accessible, timeless package. This is Marketing shows you how to do work you’re proud of, whether you’re a tech startup founder, a small business owner, or part of a large corporation.
No matter what your product or service, this book will help you reframe how it’s presented to the world, in order to meaningfully connect with people who want it.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- Goodreads
- Storygraph
- Author’s Website
- Wikipedia
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (2018)
by James Clear

- Year Published: 2018
- Storygraph Categories:
nonfiction, psychology, self help, informative, inspiring, reflective, medium-paced - Teaches you practical tips on how to build better habits and be consistent with working on your goals
The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 1 million copies sold
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving–every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Links:
- You can find out more on:
- Goodreads
- Storygraph
- Author’s Website
- Wikipedia
- You can buy the book here on Amazon.
Final thoughts
I hope you found something of interest in this list of books.
I’m always looking for more suggestions of books to read. I’d love to know which books helped you on your entrepreneurial journey. Let me know in a comment below!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of the book?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment below.
Leave a Reply