I like to send books to my clients — books I’ve read and think they’ll get something from. For the past few years I’ve been adding a post here of what I’ve been reading.
Last year I read/re-read 14 business books and 17 non-biz books. Not included here are all the magazines, journals and digests.
At the bottom of this post is some of the things I do to help retain/use the knowledge.
If you’re looking to up your business, marketing, finance, productivity knowledge, here’s a peek at 2022’s reading list by category (note that many of these could fall into more than one category):
Finance, Business & Money-Related Books
- The Win-Win Wealth Strategy: 7 Investments the Government Will Pay You to Make by Tom Wheelwright.
- Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue by Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman, and Lincoln Murphy.
- The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You by Pamela Slim.
Marketing and Sales-Related Books
- They Ask, You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer by Marcus Sheridan.
- Converted: The Data-Driven Way to Win Customers’ Hearts by Neil Hoyne.
- Marketing with a Book: The Science of Attracting High-Paying Clients for Consultants and Coaches by Henry J DeVries.
- Sell with Authority for Real Estate Investors: Your Road Map to Defining It, Earning It, and Monetizing It! by Chris Prefontaine, Zachary Beach, Nick Prefontaine, Drew McLellan , & Stephen Woessner.
Productivity and Business Culture-Related Books
- The EOS Life: How to Live Your Ideal Entrepreneurial Life (The Traction Library) by Gino Wickman.
- Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity by Frank Slootman.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz.
- The Power of One More: The Ultimate Guide to Happiness and Success by Ed Mylett.
- Tree Service Client Data Log Book: Professional Arborist Client Tracking Address & Appointment Book with A to Z Alphabetic Tabs to Record Personal Customer Information by MadGav Publishing.
- Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.
- The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months by Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington.
Personal Development-Related Books
- Unlock the Power of Your Perception: Claim Your Natural Strengths, Reframe Your Weaknesses, Reshape Your Most Important Relationships by Lynda-Ross Vega, Gary M Jordan PhD.
- Fit for Life by Harvey Diamond, Marilyn Diamond.
- The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz.
Craft & Hobbies, Home Improvement, Gardening & Landscaping-Related books
- MaryJane’s Outpost by MaryJane Butters.
- Lessons from Our Micro Homestead: Tips, tricks, hints and resources from our experience trying to grow on less than 1/4 of an acre by Randi Dudley.
- The Mindful Gardener: A Success Guide to Organic Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners by Natalie Amos.
- Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L. Markham.
- Maximizing Your Mini Farm: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L. Markham.
- The Backyard Homestead Bible: [5 in 1] The Most Complete Sustainable-Living Guide | How to Start your Mini-Farm and Quickly Become Self-Sufficient by Tom Harving.
- The Family Garden Planner: Organize Your Food-Growing Year‚ Helpful Worksheets‚ Weekly Tasks‚ Expert Advice by Melissa K. Norris.
- MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook: For the Farmgirl in All of Us by MaryJane Butters.
- The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! by Carleen Madigan.
Other non-biz books (some can be considered personal development while others are just for fun):
- NKJV, Value Thinline Bible, Comfort Print: Holy Bible, New King James Version by Thomas Nelson.
- The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers by Nicholas Irving, Gary Brozek.
- The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization by Peter Zeihan.
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
- The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
How I get the most out of what I read
It’s easy to read and forget when dealing with everything in life and business so I’ve developed a few strategies to support me in retaining and implementing the info I read:
1. Business on Kindle, Non-Biz on Paper
While I prefer to hold a book in my hands (there’s nothing like that!), when it comes to learning I’ve discovered that using my Kindle works much better. Highlighting passages I’m interested in allows me to come back and zip through much faster than a paper copy. I can also export things to my Evernote Notebooks and sort by topic.
I save the non-business books for paper copies, most of which I get from the library to ease my mind over the “dead tree books.” 🙂
2. Read with a Notepad Nearby
I typically have my Whitelines notebook nearby (Whitelines lets you digitize handwritten notes so I can upload them when done and store with highlighted notes from book.) and jot any special notes and/or action steps that aren’t covered simply by highlighting.
When done reading and before uploading, I go through my notes and take any item marked with an asterisk and either add it to my action list or delegate it to a team member. This is something to be implemented.
Each week I review my overall action list and move items to that week’s “Make It Happen” list and schedule it on a certain day. This saves me from always staring at a multi-page list which feels overwhelming.
That’s it… doing these two things have helped me make leaps in my business and share knowledge/support clients in doing the same in theirs.