I didn't know what I was doing when I started my business. I've learned SO much over the past decade. A major thing I've learned is that it helps no one when you pretend to have all of the answers. I've never been a professional marketer, redirected a struggling business, worked at Google, Apple, or walked away from a career that looked rightbut felt wrong. But you know who has? The authors I turned to when I knew my business needed a thoughtful overhaul.

Today I’m sharing a list of the 5 most impactful business books I’ve read so far this year. Some of these are new books and some are older. I wasn’t looking for the flashy, trendy information that fizzles out of relevance so I avoided any best seller lists that told me what I should read. 

Instead I took to my local used bookstore and pulled dozens and dozens of books from the shelves and did what I used to do before the internet: I read the back of the books, flipped through the first few pages, and picked what I decided was most relevant for me... and it worked like a charm. 

What I read and why I loved it:  

 

The Myth of The Nice Girl: Achieving a Career You Love Without Becoming A Person You Hate, Fran Hauser

Of all the books this is the one that had me saying, ‘Whoa. This is me. This is how I approach business.’ the entire time I was reading it. This book was validating beyond measure to just stay my course and be who I am. 

Caring about others isn’t a weakness in business; it’s an important part of networking and building a lasting career founded on genuine relationships. I pride myself on being consistently me both in business and in my personal life, and I credit the fact that I’ve become great friends with many business contacts as evidence that this is how I’m meant to live and run my business. This book reminded me that kindness is critical. Empathy and genuine care isn’t soft, it takes effort and that’s often very hard in business.

I have tons of pages bookmarked to refer back to the next time my niceness is feeling like a weakness. I finished this book feeling confident, empowered, and firmly reconnected with my inner Nice Girl-- and proud of it!

 

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, Kim Scott: 

I read this book right after The Myth of The Nice Girl and it was both a stimulating contrast and complementary to the themes recently on my mind.

Let me explain: Radical Candor provided a framework for the ideal position for a boss to take in all forms of business. When I first started this book I was skeptical that every boss’s behavior could be distilled down into four primary behaviors. I thought of every boss I’ve had and the kind of boss I want to be, and I thought those complexities overshadowed four simple behaviors.

After completing the book and applying it to my own business I’m convinced it’s true. There really are only 4 primary types of behaviors . Mind-blowing. Understanding what these behaviors are and where we should strive to stand as a boss: Radically Candid behavior (comprised of caring personally and challenging directly in equal measure) we can unlock confidence, decision making, and kindness that will propel a business forward.

This book gave me the confidence to do one of the hardest things I’ve had to do so far as a boss: Fire someone. I know I made the right decision. Without this book I don’t think I’d confidently say that. If you’re struggling to hold your ground while still being yourself in any business relationship, this is the book I recommend reading asap.

 

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder, Arianna Huffington

This book was exactly what I expected it to be and that’s really big praise. I wanted to feel inspired, encouraged, and like my creativity and intuition were being heard-- like a small voice I too often tune out. It happened.

The big change? Since reading this book Kim and I are working with the goal of taking weekends off. This may not sound like a big deal. If you know us, you know it’s huge. 

Despite having ER visits and long-term injuries over the years from the manual work we do in the studio 7 days a week, we’ve never in our 10 years of business held to a normal weekends-off schedule. Oh and then last year we expanded our business into our first commercial space, lost thousands in poorly made goods during our expansion efforts, and I started a second business, The Studio Source aimed at teaching other artists how to sell online. (The timing for starting that business felt right but probably seemed like the craziest thing to do.) Burnout was looming.

This book reminded me to slow down to keep up and to trust my intuition. It may seem counterintuitive but rest is the most important resource we can give our bodies and brains. The money, the activities, none of that matters if you’re not resting to reset.

This book outlines that we as Westerners view success as two halves: Money and Power. When it’s more accurately a three pillar system and that third pillar is the Thrive pillar composed of Wisdom, Well-being, and Wonder. I’ve put these practices into work and they’re life-changing. 

 

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers, Seth Godin

I read this book cover to cover faster than any book in recent memory. I couldn’t get enough of the information or how easy it was to understand! I was eager to begin applying everything I learned. I’d never had this experience with a marketing book before! 

What adds to my enjoyment of this book is that it was written 20 years ago well before many of the technologies and apps we have today. How did he get it all so right?

Seth Godin was analyzing trends and sharing advice for optimal direct to consumer marketing before we had instagram and other social media platforms that so many business use for that exact type of marketing. Which I think makes this book even better than a new release because the advice is sound and time tested, proving to be just as relevant today as when written in 1999. These aren’t trendy solutions. The ideas in this book will grow with us and our technology if we learn how to use them.

If you’re a small business owner of any kind I highly recommend this book. I think you’ll be just as surprised as I was how easy these strategies are to implement and how wisely Godin prophesied the changes we’d see in effective online marketing. 

 

All About Them: Grow Your Business by Focusing on Others, Bruce Turkel

Of all the books in this list this was the one that I found ‘most like a business book.’ Okay, here’s what I mean and why I still recommend it: The writing style of this book wasn’t my favorite but the information was very helpful and informative. The book wasn’t dry, it just wasn’t my personal preference. There were a lot of anecdotes… and I learned that this annoys me. But I’m sure it’s a very effective way to make information memorable so my feedback shouldn’t dissuade you, but I felt compelled to pass it along. Now let’s get into why I loved the book because there’s way more pros than cons. 

The goal of this book is right in the title and it delivers. I’ve always considered my customers to be extremely important, very active part of my business and that belief is strongly revitalized after reading this book. If we as business owners aren’t thinking about our customers what kind of business do we have? The answer is probably not a profitable one! 

One of my biggest takeaways is the reminder that customer centered businesses stay relevant, deepen their value overtime, and that this doesn’t mean you have to offer a million sales or send unhappy customers a free lifetime supply-- in fact that’s probably the last thing they want. Instead it’s important to think about how to make your customers feel good, and that can have a different answer for every business. 

All of the links shared are affiliate links which means I can earn a small percentage of a sale. This is a small way to support my business and I appreciate it! I hope you'll enjoy these books! If you read them I'd love to hear from you on instagram!

If you'd like to learn more about running an online art business be sure to join painter, Allie Dattilio and me over at The Studio Source.