Software Start Up on a Tight Budget

Part 5 of 5

No matter how much you know, there is always an opportunity to learn more. The best of us are students of life as it allows us to keep growing without bound.

I have given you a taste of what you can do to create a successful business. Now, here is some reading that should help you out even more. It certainly helped me out a lot.
How to win friends and influence people
This is a book that everyone should read. It may seem like common sense but I have found that common sense isn't always so common. It is a book about how to ethically act toward others that in a way that encourages them to treat you with respect. This isn't a book about manipulating people. It tells you how to treat others the way they like to be treated and how it will improve your life as well as theirs.
E-Myth
This book is ideal for the technician (the person used to doing all the work) turned entrepreneur (the owner of the business). Most people who go into business for themselves do it after working in their industry for a while. There are some dangerous pitfalls awaiting those people. This book helps you understand the three main roles you must play in your small business (the technician, the manager and the entrepreneur), how they interact and how you as the business owner must fill, interact with and orchestrate these roles to create a healthy business that works for you so you don't have to work for it.
Ready Fire Aim
Many of the things I have suggested in this article stem from this book. If I had read it when I started my business, I am sure things would have gone much better.

Michael Masterson has years of experience growing small start ups into medium sized and even large businesses. He discusses many useful principles in starting on very little money and walks you though how your business changes as it grows. He spends a lot of time discussing the evolution of products and services. He also gives great advice about what type of people to hire and where to best place them in your business. It is a great read for any size business but is especially helpful for start ups and businesses that have stalled in their growth and need ideas on how to spur growth.
Never eat alone
As I said, sales is the life blood of your business. This book has great information about how to connect with other people and ethically leverage your relationships to grow your business. This book helped me see how sales doesn't have to be evil but can in fact be done very effectively and allow you to go to sleep at night with a clean conscious. If you think sales is all bad, you must read this book.


Cheers and good luck with finding your dream.

-Aaron