Forum Discussion

MrShortbuster's avatar
MrShortbuster
Contributor 2
4 months ago

Business books

Anyone care to share recommendations for good business books.

I have a couple

  1. 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)
  2. Profitable Sales a contractor's guide - same author as above: (really comprehensive books on construction and construction related sales)
  3. 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
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

learning resources
professional development
  • Lignum9291's avatar
    Lignum9291
    Contributor 3
    4 months ago

    I have a few favorites.

    Prophet First
    Pumpkin Plan
    100 MIllion Dollar Lead
    100 Million Dollar Offer
    The EMyth Revisited
    Brainshare
    The Richest Man in Babylon
    Think and Grow RIch 

  • NewCreationsSea's avatar
    NewCreationsSea
    Contributor 4
    4 months ago

    I love a good business book! I have read a number of them! 

    Tops would be: 

    1. The Gap and the gain
    2. Who not How
    3. 10x is easier than 2x
    4. The E-Myth Revisited
    5. Atomic Habits
    6. Story Brand
    7. High Performance Habits
    8. Profit First
    9. Essentialism

    So good! These all are great for entrepreneurs in any industry. More on personal development and mindset so that YOU can take your business to the next level. 

  • HotTubDave's avatar
    HotTubDave
    Contributor 2
    2 months ago

    Just finished reading "Home Service Millionaire: How I Went from $50,000 in Debt to a $30 Million+ Business..." by Tommy Mello.

    This is an easy to read book with a lot of short chapters covering dozens of topics.   He doesn't really go in-depth into anything, but it's still a good overview of how to run a business more efficiently.   I've been running my own business for over 35 years, so I generally feel like I've already heard almost everything I'm reading.  

    I was rolling around in bed at 3am, worrying about the $50,000 I just borrowed to buy a new van for the company since the old one died, my insurance bill that has just gone up 25%, another new demand from the State of NJ for a surety bond for all home improvement contractors, how I'm going to pay my employees their Christmas bonuses without funding from my personal bank account, and when I'm going to be able to give myself another pay check.  It suddenly occurred to me the best way to get all the doubts and worry's out of my head would be to put something useful into my brain.  So I turned on the Kindle and started reading Tommy's book, which I had downloaded two weeks before.

    In two hours, I have picked up about 15 action items from the book, and if one of them works out it will have been a worthwhile investment in my time to read the book.  And I think that's the most important aspect about business book learning:  it takes just one good action item to get a worthwhile return.

    I'm just about done with "Home Service Millionaire."  I'm glad others are posting what they're reading, one of these will be my next download.

    Thanks everyone for sharing.

     

     

  • Lignum9291's avatar
    Lignum9291
    Contributor 3
    31 days ago

    Currently, I am going through about 4 books me and my wife.

    Clockwork - As stated above. This book is very practical with step by step process of how to take your self out of business and take a 4-week vacation from it.

    Profit First- This is about how to take out your profit first and work with fewer resources thereby creating ways how to be more efficient. 


    Emotional Intelligence - This is how to understand people's emotions and yours and use it to your advantage in business.

    100 MIllion Offer - How to create offers customers can't say no to.