6 of the Best Entrepreneur Books in the Last 3 Years

You may have heard that all successful people have one thing in common: they read. Not just fiction and classic tales, but wise words from successful people before them. Words they use to guide them toward their own degrees of success.

Don’t just read for fun: read to learn, grow and succeed. Here are six of the best entrepreneur books published in the last three years, to teach and motivate you to go after your ideas and transform them into realities.

1. Finding Your Way in a Wild New World by Martha Beck (2013)

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World by Martha Beck (2013)

Have you ever felt as though you just don’t fit anywhere in this world? Many of us spend the majority of our lives aching to discover the one thing we were put on this earth to do, and many even still never take the time to actually figure out what that is. If you are not happy where you are right now, perhaps there is something you have always told yourself you wanted to do, but have never taken the plunge.

Author Martha Beck believes everyone has a purpose in this world, and she is determined to help you find yours. This book guides you through not only figuring out why you are where you are right now, but also toward where you want to head now to pave the way for your future. An ideal read for those who aren’t sure if what they are doing right now is the right way to be spending their life. You might feel lost now, but soon, you will find your way again.

2. The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte (2014)

The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte (2014)

How do you define success? Not the success of the people around you or the success of those professionals you constantly admire from afar, but the success of your own self, in your own life? The author of this book has a theory you may have never considered before. What if success isn’t about goals and achieving balance, but about how your work and the things you do every day make you feel?

Author Danielle LaPorte is here to show you that there is no one true definition for success, and no one else can define what makes you successful. You decide what success means in your own life. You decide the steps you need to take in order to reach work and life satisfaction, and apply some of LaPorte’s self-help concepts to help you create the successful business and life you want to manage and live.

3. Business Adventures by John Brooks (2014)

Business Adventures by John Brooks (2014)

If you are thinking about starting your own business or are already running one, it’s probably a good idea to know a little history before you find yourself involved in the financial game with no more opportunities to back out. Can you name some of the most well-known companies’ greatest successes and most epic failures? Maybe you can’t … yet. But John Brooks can.

Business Adventures looks at the world of business through a journalistic financial lens, helping entrepreneurs better understand how a company that has grown to exceptional heights can just as easily, and quickly, get knocked down and face financial ruin. Brooks highlights specific business successes and catastrophes throughout history to show readers what to watch out for, what kinds of chances are worth taking and what never to repeat in their own business endeavors from here on out.

4. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday (2014)

The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday (2014)

Have you tried starting your own business, but were overwhelmed with too many obstacles blocking your path? Sometimes we focus far too much on obstacles as things trying to keep us from moving forward, when in reality, we should focus much more on treating obstacles as mechanisms for making things happen regardless. You may want to own your own business, but you’re still human: you can’t control everything.

Ryan Holiday’s book sets out to teach you to embrace the elements of your business ideas you can control and set aside the elements you can’t. He uses accounts of successful business people like Steve Jobs to demonstrate that this method of focusing on the factors in your business you can influence and change is an effective strategy for setting yourself up for great success.

5. Zero to One by Peter Thiel (2014)

Zero to One by Peter Thiel (2014)

What does it take to start a business? Some background knowledge, maybe. Plenty of expertise, maybe. What many don’t realize is that what makes a successful person is not their ability to take what they know and copy what others have done, but use what they know to create something completely new for the world to absorb.

Entrepreneur Peter Thiel wants you to believe that thinking beyond what has already been done is not only possible, but necessary. A successful business is not just about finding the answers to questions everyone keeps asking, but also about discovering questions no one else has asked before. You are not a true entrepreneur until you create something the world has yet to see.

6. Hack the Entrepreneur by Jon Nastor (2015)

Hack the Entrepreneur by Jon Nastor (2015)

It isn’t hard to figure out how to start a business. The true challenge is figuring out the best, most effective ways to going about making your business successful. What you need is a set of “hacks”—quick tips and strategies for turning your business into something that will last.

Hack the Entrepreneur podcast host Jon Nastor turned 50 of the best “hacks” he has given his aspiring entrepreneur listeners into a short book meant to motivate and inspire you to do what you want to do, no matter what it takes. You won’t be able to finish reading without a handful of new ideas for the next steps you want to take on your entrepreneurial journey.

It isn’t easy, taking a chance on your own ideas and daring to try something new. You are the only one who can make that decision for yourself. However, these successful authors can help you along the way. Check out what they have to say. The advice they have to give is valuable, and just might change your life.