My name is Dale Partridge. I’m not a get-rich-quick blogger or a money-focused entrepreneur, in fact I’m quite the opposite. Incredibly doing “the opposite” is what has allowed me to be so successful.
I am a family man, I was born in Orange County, California, and currently live on a farm in Oregon. I am a husband, father and entrepreneur.
I am not one of the people who start strange businesses online and an example of this is that most of my businesses are traditional: A climbing gym, a branding agency, a conference company, an online clothing store, a technology and StartupCamp.com.
Additionally, I am the author of the book: “People Over Profit” and I was interviewed by MSNBC. You can see my interview here.
Through the last years my companies have generated close to 30 million dollars and like the classic entrepreneurs, I did not attend the University; however, I have read many, many books.
I can say that I read around 250 books during my first years as an entrepreneur.
Of those 250 issues, there are 10 that changed the way I think about business, leadership, and marketing.
These entrepreneurship books became my University and helped me visualize the path, not only to build great companies, but also to create wealth, influence and confidence. I will try to list them in the order they were read.
10 entrepreneurship books that made me a millionaire.
1. Good to Great: Why some companies make it and others don’t.
My favorite phrase: “A company must limit its growth, based on its ability to attract enough of the good customers”
As you will soon notice, Jim Collins is on this list 3 times. And the reason is because this author writes from research, all the lessons from him carry a lot of weight. Additionally, they have a strange level of maturity in their way of thinking. Although some people think that this book is for top executives and Wall Street men, its content is highly applicable to all business owners. For some reason it has sold over 3 million copies.
2. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow these laws and people will follow you.
My favorite phrase: “If you don’t have peace, it’s not because someone took it from you, it’s because you gave it away. You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control what happens inside of you.
It took me a few years to realize that success in business depended on my level of leadership. It takes time to realize that not just because you hire an employee he/she is going to follow you. Leadership is a position that must be earned. John Maxwell is undoubtedly the best teacher on leadership issues. The lessons in this book are timeless, brilliant, and powerful. I read it almost every year.
3.John Adams
My favorite phrase: “You can’t be, I know, I don’t want to see it either, an inactive spectator. We have many important words and few actions that correspond to them.
This is a phrase from the wife of John Adams in a moment of empathy. A frustration of feeling that one is made for great things and not being used.
I’ll try to be impartial, but this may be my favorite book on the list. This book taught me the music of writing. This is the book that taught me how to change the world, but more importantly, it taught me how to be a better husband, thinker, reader, and creator. John Adams and his wife Abigail are a gift to humanity and a gift to your mind.
4. The Brand Gap: How to bridge the gap between business strategy and design.
My favorite phrase: “A brand is not what you say it is, it is what they say it is”.
If you ask me in which area of business I am most competent, I would say branding, it all started with this book. Marty Neumeier has an incomparable way of making the complex seem simple. He transforms ambiguity into clear, practical lessons. Every business owner should read this book.
5. Success That Lasts: How To Create A Meaningful Life.
My favorite phrase: “Bad decisions made with good intentions are still bad decisions.”
Although this book was published before “Good to Great”, Jim Collins says that this book is a sequel. This means reading “Good to Great” first and then “The Success That Endures.” As I mentioned before, the Collins books became my business school. This book offers proven business principles that I still use every week.
6. Apple: The legacy of Steve Jobs
My favorite phrase: “Design is often the most immediate way to define what products become in people’s minds.”
There are many books on the life of Steve Jobs and Apple. This is by far the best. The author uses a useful and very easy to consume narrative. Additionally, he leaves readers with an inventory of tips, tricks, and ideas for getting Apple’s genius into your own business. Writing this description makes me want to read it again.
7. Ideas that stick: “How some ideas die and others survive”
My favorite phrase: “When you say three things, you say nothing.”
I consider myself a marketing expert. It is not because of pride, but because of my results. Many of these results can be credited to the concepts I learned in this book. Chip and Dan talk less about marketing strategies and more about psychological principles. It wouldn’t be on this list if it wasn’t great.
8. Reboot.
This is one of the recommended readings in module number 1 in the Startupcamp program. Short chapters, easy to read. The concepts in this book are not only brilliant, they also defy all current business norms. To be honest, I don’t agree with some of them, but the thinking behind this text is so radical, it doesn’t just explain how to win, it shows you how to do it.
9. Out of the ordinary: Why some people are successful and others are not.
My favorite quote: “Success is a function of persistence, stubbornness, and the willingness to work hard for 22 minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up after 30 seconds.”
My wife bought this book for me within a month of its release. I never heard of him before. “Out of Series” is not necessarily a business or leadership book, it is a broader text. Malcolm Gladwell has always been good at talking to readers about deep topics. In short, this book is fascinating. You will learn how much and how little we are able to control our success.
10. Great by Choice.
My favorite quote: The idea of leading in a world that moves so fast requires quick decisions and quick actions. We must adopt a perfect concept of fast. Very fast is a good way to die.”
I opened this list with Jim Collins and I end it with him as well. This book shook me. I filled an entire notebook with ideas from this reading. What I love about Jim’s writing style is the way he can put deep insights into simple lessons.
This book is full of fascinating stories and ideas that are almost impossible to contradict. It’s advanced reading, but it’s a mistake not to have this book in your library.
However, I must give credit to what has it. I don’t want you to think I’m preaching, this is just my story. The book I have spent the most time with is The Bible. I don’t know about you, but the wisdom I found in the Book of Proverbs is impressive. Emotional maturity, patience, compassion and generosity, requested by Jesus, have become a goal in my life. We must recognize that it is the most famous, well-known, used, and oldest book on the planet. Ignoring it would be foolish.
Do you have a book that has changed your life? Books that can help other people to be better leaders or entrepreneurs? If you have them, tell us what they are in the comments.
If you are looking for more books for entrepreneurs and in Spanish, click here!
And remember that if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can purchase our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
This article was originally published on startupcamp.com. Its translation and publication in ModoEmprendedor has been authorized directly by the author and cannot be reproduced by any other means.
