Audio version

The journey of entrepreneurship over the last five years has been tough, I have to say. I have been through several cycles and read a lot of books. Some were to support my professional development. Others were just to build up my confidence in areas that have been weak. Below are some of my favorite books that have really been tried and tested. These are part of my personal library and I come back to them often. The first is You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero. I really love her wit and dry humor. She has a whole series that I find useful. I often borrow her books from my local library. They support me no matter where I am in my entrepreneurial journey. The second is Build the Damn Thing by Katherine Finney. She is an African American woman and a mother. I identify with her in so many different ways. She is Ivy League educated and has a lot of great perspectives. What I love about her is that she shares her experiences through her journey. A lot of it really resonates with me. This is a great book for female founders who are not building brick and mortar businesses. She helps you think about tech in a different way. She also gives you a nice blueprint on how to test your ideas. I go back to this book whenever I have to make a pivot. My third and final recommendation is Pitch Perfect. I found this book super helpful for thinking through public speaking. Public speaking is not something I particularly enjoy. This book gave me a framework for handling sales situations. It also helped me think about how to walk into a room full of people I am not comfortable with. It gives me a lot of good encouragement. It is a great book for helping you get information to people clearly. Some honorable mentions are Cues by Vanessa Van Edwards Captivate by Vanessa Van Edwards, Kiss by Earl Nightingale and The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy. I have also done a lot of learning through online courses whenever I could. I have pursued small micro credentials and pieced together my education that way. In the next part of my series I will talk about how I have used artificial intelligence to build some pretty interesting learning plans. I have been using these plans to keep myself current especially with the rise of artificial intelligence chatbots.