If you’ve ever been on video chat with me, you know there’s a custom-built bookshelf in my dining room that acts as my backdrop.
My dad was a middle school librarian, so the idea of reading has always been impressed upon me.
After seeing plenty of discussions in Facebook groups about the best business books (and I’ve got my own favorites), I wanted to create a post on the best books for female entrepreneurs.
But…
Why create a post on books for women entrepreneurs when you’re a male?
That’s a great question. And, I have a great answer 🙂
There’s a pin that I’ve pinned some time ago that performs well on my account. Always tends to get repins. And, it’s on a very similar topic. So, I wanted to leverage board co-occurrence as a test to see if my pin would gain additional distribution because of the similarity between the two.
Fascinating topic, I know (and my Facebook group will hear about the results), but I’ll get back to the topic at hand.
Here are the top 7 books I see repeated by female bloggers all the time:
- #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso
- Work Less, Make More by James Schramko
- You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
- The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
- Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Let’s go into detail about each a little more!
7 Great Business Books for Female Entrepreneurs
When I was selecting the books to be featured in this round-up, I had a few elements in my criteria:
- The majority of the books should be written by women
- They were recommended in Facebook groups
- The authors had diverse backgrounds and experiences to draw on
I find that if you read the same concept but told differently, you’re not learning anything new. You’re simply being reminded of what you already know.
So…
These books for female entrepreneurs are all different and unique. They touch on different aspects of business, such as mindset and productivity.
What they have in common are that they aim to inspire action in YOU and thus empower you to change your business for the better.
Without further ado, here are the books again:
- #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso
- Work Less, Make More by James Schramko
- You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
- The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
- Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Time to learn more about each one!
1. #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso
By age 22, Sophia had dropped out of college and was broke and directionless.
She spent her teens scrounging in dumpsters, hitchhiking, and committing petty theft just to scrape by.
After taking a job for health insurance, Amoruso decided to start selling vintage clothes on eBay. From there, she’s been able to build a massive retail empire that rivals many.
This is one of those books for female entrepreneurs that shows that being successful has nothing to do with a college education or high school popularity, but rather, what you create for yourself.
Not a typical CEO, Amoruso wrote #GIRLBOSS to show outsiders to the business world how to find the unique path to success and prove naysayers wrong.
Check it out on Amazon below!
By Sophia Amoruso
In the New York Times bestseller that the Washington Post called “Lean In for misfits,” Sophia Amoruso shares how she went from dumpster diving to founding one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world.
2. Work Less, Make More: The Counter-Intuitive Approach to Building a Profitable Business and a Life You Actually Love by James Schramko
Back in 2006, Schramko wrote this in a journal while working at his full-time job…
MY GOALS … create automated income so that I am independently wealthy and enjoy my life passionately.
Within three years, he’d built his own business and achieved them. Then he set about helping his coaching clients do the same.
And they were able to make significantly more money by working fewer hours.
Schramko has proven that all you need is:
- An open mind
- The ability to focus on what’s important
- An understanding of business models
- A willingness to challenge your assumptions
Work Less, Make More will teach you how to effectively leverage yourself so that you can work fewer hours and spend time with your family and loved ones — the people who really matter.
Check it out on Amazon below!
Work Less, Make More is a dense delivery of solid systems and sane advice. It’s not 80/20, it’s 80/20 squared. Every few pages, James punches you in the face with an instantly actionable hack.
3. You are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
Jen Sincero, a #1 New York Times best-selling author, was living in a converted garage with nothing in her bank account.
In just a few years, she was able to change her mindset and travel the world in style.
With inimitable sass and practicality, Sincero combines hilarious personal essays with bite-size, aha concepts to help you unlock your earning potential and earn REAL results.
After reading You are a Badass at Making Money, you’ll learn how to:
- Uncover what’s holding you back from making money
- Eradicate your doubts, fears, and excuses
- Relate to money in a lucrative way
- Tap into your natural ability to grow rich
- Get as wealthy as you wanna be
As a business owner, having an abundant mindset that you can create money and live a better life is a must.
Check it out on Amazon below!
“A cheerful manifesto on removing obstacles between yourself and the income of your dreams.” —New York Magazine
4. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss
In The 4-Hour Workweek, Ferriss asks readers to forget the old notion of retirement. With unpredictable economic times (and we’re due for another recession now), it’s never too early to take control of your financial future.
As a #1 New York Times best-selling author, Tim Ferriss has been an angel investor and advisor to companies like Facebook, Uber, Evernote, and more and has even been a guest lecturer at Princeton University — so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two on entrepreneurship.
This step-by-step guide on luxury lifestyle design teaches you how:
- Go from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week — Tim’s story
- Outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
- Eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
- Trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent “mini-retirements”
Some of my interview series guests have cited this book as the reason why they started their businesses.
That’s the POWER of Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek.
It helps you take command over your financial future and entrepreneurial success.
Check it out on Amazon below!
Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, or earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.
5. Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
Marie Forleo is one of the original, big-time bloggers that made online business work for her when there wasn’t a prescribed path.
Now, in her INSTANT #1 New York Times best-selling book, this podcaster and blogger puts forth an indispensable handbook for becoming the creative force of your life.
Instead of offering a quick fix, this self-help book tries to change your mindset.
If you can’t accomplish your goals, it might not be that the goals are unattainable. It might be that your mindset isn’t well-equipped to attain them.
In Everything is Figureoutable, you’ll learn:
- The habit that makes it 42% more likely you’ll achieve your goals
- How to overcome a lack of time and money
- How to deal with criticism and imposter syndrome
Perhaps, this book is best summarized by Wild best-selling author and subject of the Reese Witherspoon movie, Cheryl Strayed, who says that it’s a must-read for anyone who wants to face their fears, fulfill their dreams, and find a better way forward.
Check it out on Amazon below!
Marie’s mom once told her, “Nothing in life is that complicated. You can do whatever you set your mind to if you roll up your sleeves. Everything is figureoutable.”
6. The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone
If you haven’t seen Grant Cardone’s Facebook ads in your newsfeed, just wait…
He’s a New York Times best-selling author and is an internationally renowned speaker on leadership, real estate investing, entrepreneurship, and finance. He also breeds high-ticket salespeople like none other.
In this book, Cardone explains the 4th degree of action, also known as the 10 X Rule and massive action, which is the level of action that guarantees companies and individuals realize their goals and dreams.
This book shows you how to:
- Learn the “estimation of effort” calculation to ensure you exceed your targets
- Make the 4th degree a way of life and defy mediocrity
- Discover the time management myth
- Get the exact reasons why people fail and others succeed
- Know the exact formula to solve problems
Extreme success is by definition outside the realm of normal action.
The 10X Rule helps you to remove luck and chance from your business equation and lock in massive success.
Check it out on Amazon below!
“Grant Cardone has hit the nail on the head with The 10X Rule—telling you the real reason people succeed greatly in any area of life!”—Brian Tracy, best-selling author of over 45 books
7. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Sheryl Sandberg is COO of Facebook and back in 2010, she gave an electrifying TED talk that’s been viewed over 6 million times.
She encouraged women to sit at the table, seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.
This book continues that conversation, combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can.
Lean In will show you how to:
- Build a satisfying career
- Combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment
- Grow your confidence and take risks
Books for female entrepreneurs like this are for women who have what it takes to succeed at the highest professional level, despite the many obstacles, both internal and external, they face.
Check it out on Amazon below!
Written with humor and wisdom, Lean In is a revelatory, inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth that will empower women around the world to achieve their full potential.
Conclusion
I try and read around one book every month.
So, by those standards, if you get a copy of all these books, you’re set for the next 6 months. You may even find (just because they’re so good) that you binge read them and need to order more.
Don’t worry — I’ve got more book recommendations if you need them. Just let me know in the comments below!
But, for right now, you can get copies of these books to get started:
- #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso
- Work Less, Make More by James Schramko
- You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
- The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
- Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Did I include your favorite book? Or, maybe I left it out? Let me know in the comments below 🙂
