Business books
Anyone care to share recommendations for good business books.
I have a couple
- Markup and profit a contractor's guide - Mike Stone (without a doubt the best book on contractor financial math and lots of other good stuff)
- Profitable Sales a contractor's guide - same author as above: (really comprehensive books on construction and construction related sales)
- Playing to win - A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin: the best book on business strategy I've ever read, goes from high level concepts right down to nuts and bolts of creating a strategy with a team effectively. One of the authors is the CEO of Proctor and Gamble who oversaw their rise to the absolute market juggernaut it is today. Unfortunately most of the examples involve mega-corporations as this is the experience of the authors but the concepts are just as applicable to small business and everything in between
- The 7 Power contractor - Al Levy: also really great book with a lot of practical advise. Breaks down the 7-powers of an effective contractor, best practices within each of them and how to put it all into action.
- Clockwork - Mike Michalowicz: great book on the practical side of business operations, how to develop your business to be able to operate without you
Essential reading for contractors, the order above is just how I wrote them down. In my opinion, the order of reading/study would be 1,4,2,5,3 at least that's what seems most logical to me from my experience with these books and contracting.
