2 Business Books I Recommend To Everyone 📚

if I could lend them to you I would!

Disclaimer time: I don’t read that much non-fiction about business and marketing.

Business podcasts? Sure! Marketing podcasts? A few, yes!

But books? Not so much.

I’ve maybe read 6 in my life—and these are my two favourites.

So, if you have any solid gold recommendations, please hit reply or drop them in the comments below.

I’d love to add them to my book basket.

1. Building A StoryBrand by Donald Miller

I always feel like I’m telling people to watch Friends when I recommend this book.

It’s just SO good that I think everyone and their dog must’ve read it by now. 

And then I see someone share an Instagram Story about how they’ve just read the incredible Building A StoryBrand, and I realise that some people still know about the magic of Donald Miller!

By the way, Miller also has a really good podcast called Business Made Simple. I highly recommend. 

No matter what kind of business you have—and whether you’re a team of one or a team of many, this book is golden.

It will get you thinking about your ideal customer and the messaging they’ll resonate with most in a way you never have before. 

“The first mistake brands make is they fail to focus on the aspects of their offer that will help people survive and thrive.”

It’s packed full of brilliant examples and short exercises. It’s not gimmicky, it’s not wishy-washy.

It’s a tool to help you clarify your values, your messaging, but also the structure of your business and what your marketing strategy looks like.

It’s a book you’ll dog-ear and return to again and again… trust me!

2. Deep Work by Cal Newport

Quick disclaimer—there are some issues with this book. Most of the examples of successful deep work center around men who either don’t have a family or have a partner at home managing the childcare. Someone said the book should be called ‘Deep Work For Men’. 

I’m also aware that some of the advice might not work for everyone. For example, night owls or those with ADHD. Being very strict with schedules, time-blocking, and working first thing in the morning won’t work for all of us.

That being said, I found some of the principles in ‘Deep Work’ very helpful (and you might too!). 

Before reading this book, I’d never fully appreciated just how detrimental it is to task-switch. I believed that doing so was a sign of being a great multi-tasker. It made me feel busy and important when really it was massively eroding my focus. Everything was taking far longer than it needed to.

I also learned that willpower is finite. At the beginning of the day, we have it in (relative) abundance. If we start checking email and social media from the moment we wake up, we chip away at our willpower (and our ability to focus well), making us immediately less productive and efficient than if we had gone straight into a ‘deep work’ session.

There are lots of actionable takeaways from this book. Some of them are really small but have had a massive impact on not just my focus, but my mental health too. 

Here’s what I changed after reading:

• I don’t check email until at least midday (80% of the time)

• I don’t check Whatsapp until after lunch (most of the time, Mon-Fri)

• If I have a lot of content to create for a client, I will block off a few hours in the morning when I’m most energised and creative. I protect that time fiercely, giving myself a little more than I think I need and take short breaks every 45-60 minutes

• I block off one whole day–Friday–for fiction writing (I keep this clear 90% of the time)

• I schedule tasks in blocks of time e.g. responding to emails, writing captions, doing invoices rather than doing a little bit here, a little bit there (I manage to do this about 60% of the time I’d say)

Making these changes has enabled me to get through my workload more quickly! 

And it’s stopped me (for the most part!) losing my brain power and creativity to social media and email.

When I slip into hold habits and start checking my phone or inbox first thing in the morning, I really—really—feel it. 

My brain gets fried more quickly and I generally feel more listless.

📚 What business/marketing books do you recommend?

I don’t read that many books from this genre (see above!) so your suggestions are very welcome!