Read on to find my must-have business books for women entrepreneurs by creatives, leaders and entrepreneurs.

I bet you’ve been there too: Feeling isolated in your challenges and doubts as a visionary and creative. And it’s this isolation that may leave you feeling uncertain or uninspired. Not sure about whether your steps are the right ones, or if there’s a better way. 

Thankfully, reading a book by fellow business owners is the next best thing to sitting down for coffee with them. You get the chance to peel back the curtain and look behind the scenes at what’s happening in the life of someone you look up to, someone whose business you likely admire and support. 

You get the unique opportunity to share the authors’ points of view and, hopefully, take the bits of each that work for your business, letting go of the rest for your fellow entrepreneurs.

These Are The 5 Best Business Books I’ve Read Recently

Company Of One: : Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business

By Paul Jarvis

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to fall in the comparison trap and look sideways to evaluate your own performance and growth. But what if bigger isn’t always better? What if we measure goals beyond growth for the sake of growth?

In Company of One, tech wiz Paul Jarvis takes a deep dive into what makes a great company of one stand the test of time. Spoiler alert: It starts with clear priorities. Paul covers a range of common business practices and how Companies of One (not all of whom are freelancers, by the way) can leverage or adapt them to fit their own goals. You’ll learn about:

• The importance of prioritizing retention vs acquisition

• Why Overhead = Death for business

• Why you want to be pistachio ice cream–not vanilla!

• How to focus on being better, not bigger

• Setting a lower bound and an upper bound in your business goals

And so much more. But mainly, you’ll hopefully walk out with a thorough understanding of what growth and intentionality means to you.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

By Greg McKeown

As a society, we’ve never been more easily accessible to everything and everyone than we are right now. Feeling the demands of daily life tug at your calendar, it’s easy to fall in the trap of saying yes without much thought, often forgetting that you have the last word in how you invest your energy and time.

In Essentialism, Greg McKeown highlights the importance of fiercely guarding your attention and devoting it to the aspects of your life and business that can truly make a meaningful impact in getting you closer to where you want to be.

One key takeaway from the book is, “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”

Looking to implement Essentialism as a business strategy? Read more: How To Focus On What Is Essential As A Visionary (Hint: Your OBM Can Help!) 

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

By James Clear

As business owners and as humans, really, most of us are filled with traits and routines we know we’d be better off without. In Atomic Habits, James Clear shares his proven strategies to help you become 1% better every day. 

Atomic Habits is filled with actionable steps and easy tweaks to implement in your life to overcome the most common struggles us humans face as we establish new habits and routines, including how to leave behind the lack of motivation and willpower, how to make habits stick, and how to get rid of the current habits you’re not thrilled about.

Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine

By Mike Michalowicz

Profit First revolutionized the way small (and big!) business owners budget their funds to make profit the priority (hence, Profit First). In order to achieve this, Mike Michalowicz flips the traditional budgeting formula from Sales - Expenses = Profit to Sales - Profit = Expenses.

Michalowicz brings Parkinson’s Law into your wallet by reframing the way you look at money and encouraging you to set your spending budget only after your profit goal has been determined. The exact opposite of what most entrepreneurs do: Keep whatever is left at the end of the month as their “profit.”

Parkinson’s Law establishes that: “Work expands to fill the time available to completion.” In other words, the longer you give yourself to complete a task, the longer it will take you to do it. Ever had to pull an all nighter after weeks of procrastination? ;)

In a financial sense, setting aside a fixed percentage of your revenue as profit will often limit the amount of money you have available for expenses, which in turn will help you better use existing resources and streamline your operations to what’s truly essential.

Looking to dive deeper into Profit First? Read this: An Accountant’s review of Profit First. 

Building a StoryBrand

By Donald Miller

Most business owners struggle to explain what they do in a way that makes sense for their audience. As a non-marketer, it’s easy to get caught up using industry lingo or being cutesy when talking about what you do. But neither of these alternatives let your reader see why you matter to them or why they need to hire you over someone else.

In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller walks you through the steps to build a winning marketing strategy by using a classic storytelling formula that places your customer at the center of your brand story and helps them see why they can’t afford not to do business with you.

Your Business Is Unique. Your Challenges As An Entrepreneur Aren’t

You may have noticed a common thread among these business books: All of these focus on changing your own relationship with your business, be it through your finances, your views on growth and long term success, your own habits and routines, or even the way you talk about what you do. 

And it’s precisely your relationship with your business and yourself that will shape the way you conduct your life and your entrepreneurial journey.

What’s One Book You Read That’s Fundamentally Changed The Way You Do Business?

Let Me Know!

Kiva Slade is the CEO and Founder of The 516 Collaborative.

She is a Certified Online Business Manager® who partners with mid 6-7 figure business owners serving as their confidante, voice of reason and manager of all things operations, teams, and projects.

Kiva holds a Master's degree in Public Administration and has operated her own jewelry business. Her 20 years of experience run the gamut from Legislative Director for a member of Congress to chief encouragement officer for her teenage children.

In her free time, you can find her indulging in gluten free desserts, playing in the dirt in her garden, or with a good book.