I’ve read many great business books, but recently people kept telling me, “Pat, can you just
explain your top 10 books of all time in entrepreneurship?”
So that’s exactly what I’m doing in this video.
The top 10 best books that I believe every entrepreneur ought to read and why.
I may read a thing or two from the book to explain why the book is so necessary for entrepreneurs
to read.
Now keep in mind, there are a lot of great books.
I’ve got a lot of great books that I wanted to put on the list but there’s only 10 of
them that made it.
So, #10 on this list, the #10 book, why I believe every entrepreneur needs to read this
is a book by a good friend of mine, Robert Greene, who’s written The 40 Laws of Power,
33, Mastery, Art of Seduction, 50th Law, and he’s working on another one.
He and I were talking last week, that’s going to be unbelievable, similar to the 40 Laws
of Power.
The number 10 book on my list is The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene.
And I’ll tell you why.
Some people ask, “Why do you talk about war?
What does this have to do with entrepreneurship?
And I’ll explain to you exactly why.
Listen, think about running a business, as running a small tribe.
You’ve heard of Tribal Leadership, which is #11 by the way, but you’re running a small
little tribe.
In other words, you’re running a country, right?
And when you’re running a country, and you’re small, getting started, typically, no one’s
going to try to take over America or Russia, maybe.
Or a major, major country.
Unless you’re some crazy guy from Germany, than that’s a different story, but most of
the time, people don’t go after the bigger countries.
They make the bigger countries the last to go after.
They start off by taking out small countries.
When you’re an entrepreneur, you are running a very, very small country.
And everybody out there has one goal.
Every competitor of yours.
They want to put you out of business — if you’re a direct competitor.
Not a sideline, not somebody they can partner up with and you can cross pollinate and they
sell your product and you sell their product, or partnership on software.
If they’re not somebody that can be a vendor or a partner, they want you to go out of business.
Think about that.
So if you don’t know the different strategies they’re going to use to put you out of business,
you’re going to be caught in a way that you say, “What the heck just happened?”
These are pros.
These are professionals.
You’re not dealing with lightweights or like, “oh, it’s so great, let us also help you get
into business and make it.”
No.
Their goal is for you to go out of business.
Period.
So you’ve got to have a mindset of a general, a warrior, a strategist, somebody that’s going
to be thinking like the Alexander or Napoleon, so you know when someone’s maneuvering a certain
way, you’ll understand what’s happening over there and here’s what we’re going to do over
here to have an edge for yourself.
Okay.
Let me read a part of this book here.
My favorite strategy in this book is #4.
He says, “Create a sense of urgency and desperation.
He calls it the death ground strategy.”
Let me read it to you.
“You are your worst enemy.
You waste precious time dreaming of the future instead of engaging in the present.
Since nothing seems so urgent to you, you are only half involved in what you do.
The only way to change is through action and outside pressure.
Put yourself in situations where you have way too much at stake to waste time or resources.
If you cannot afford to lose, you won’t.
Cut your ties to the past.
Enter unknown territory where you must be depending on your wits and energy to see you
through.
Place yourself on death ground, where your back is against the wall and you have to fight
like hell to get out alive.”
See, I like that mindset.
And it goes into explaining what other people thought that way or did it that way that helped
them get out of it and going out there and winning, so The #10 book on my list is 33
Strategies of War.
Lots of great strategies in there.
#9 – The #9 book is an author I heard 14 years ago, I heard him speak, and I think I heard
him speak in either San Jose or Palm Springs.
I heard this man speak, Michael Gerber.
He wrote a book called, The E Myth.
And the reason why The E Myth is a very, very important book to read is because it allows
you as the person who calls themself the entrepreneur to realize that maybe you’re really not an
entrepreneur.
You think you’re an entrepreneur, but you’re not really an entrepreneur.
Right?
Or, you are an entrepreneur, but you’re not paying attention to the other sides of the
business which is the systems side.
Because a lot of times the entrepreneur may be the visionary and not want to deal with
all the minutia, and just want to go out there and do all this stuff, and they’re not really
paying attention to systems and so you can’t really scale your business.
He talks about that in the book.
I’ll read a part of this book to you.
It says, “If your business is having problems, in all likelihood, the problem has never been
your business.
It has always been you.
Perhaps you see yourself as an entrepreneur but work more like a technician.
To clarify what we mean by this, let’s have a look at the two definitions.
Entrepreneur.
A person who has vision and dreams of a better future.
They innovate, create and practice forward thinking.
Technician.
A person how is a doer, a worker, a person who isn’t interested in ideas, but actions.
Now, when a technician — listen — when a technician’s bored of making money for their
boss and they decide to start their own business, they fail because they see a business as a
place to go to work.
It’s just another job.
That’s why a lot of people fail as an entrepreneur, because they’re really technicians.
But instead of doing one job, the job they’ve always done, they do all jobs that a business
requires.
Thus the business fails because the technician burns out, unable to juggle all the jobs that
need doing and they ultimately despair.
The solution according to Gerber is not necessarily to turn from being an entrepreneur to being
a technician but to unleash the entrepreneur spirit within the technician.
The technician who goes into business without an entrepreneur perspective will fail.
There is no argument about this.
You can still be a technician and hard working, loving what you do, but you need to be an
entrepreneur, too and an entrepreneur is someone who knows that a business is not simply a
place to go to work, it is much more than that.
So what does that mean?
I had a conversation.
One of my good friends finally came to me and said, “Look, I was working for a company.
I was the #7 guy.
Then I became the #5 guy.
Then I became the #3 guy.
And then I became the #2 guy.
And then I said, “I’m going to go out there and be the #1 guy.
He went and became the #1 guy and it was the worst victory of his lifetime.
He made 6 million here, 3 million here, 2 million here, 8 million here.
He made nothing on the last one.
No victory.
And he said that after realizing why that was, I realized I don’t make a good #1, but
I make a very good #2.
And he repositioned himself and followed it with another big victory.
Why is this?
He understood himself.
That’s what E Myth will do when you read it, getting a whole different perspective in your
business.
#8: The next book I want to tell you about is again by Robert Greene.
The 40 Laws of Power was #12 on my list and I put Mastery at #8 and I’ll tell you why
I put Mastery at #8.
So many people in life will live a life.
. . let’s just say that you and I have 75 to 100 years to live.
Some of you live 75, some may live 92.
Most people die never really mastering anything.
They master being bored.
They master watching T.V.
They master a lot of other things, but very few people master a skill set or a trade.
Very few people.
And I don’t care what you do.
I saw a video the other day, I posted it on Facebook, that was about these people who
are taking these things and they’re spinning it and it’s going around and they’re doing
it so perfectly and this one guy who’s clean the window at an airport which was insane.
This other guys that’s cutting the watermelon in a way that’s just ridiculous.
This other guys that cutting an onion in a way I’ve never seen before.
And I respect that.
I respect professionals.
I respect people that take a certain small thing and they become masters at it.
This book does a very good job using stories of whether it’s Franklin or some other musicians
on explaining how you, yourself, can go from somebody who’s a novice at anything you do
that no one knows about.
You may like it but you’re not good at it or even great at it, and using formulas that
other people have used for you to become a master at what you’re doing.
Lots of people, they see opportunities and they say, “Oh my God, I want to do this.
Oh, I’m going to go out there and do this or that” and they keep changing, changing,
changing, over a 5, 10, 15, 20 year period, and they never really experience a big victory
because they just learned a lot of things but they never mastered anything.
Very, very important book.
One of the main reasons why people kept asking me, you know, someone told me the other day,
“Pat, I see you more as a technology guy, man.
I see you as a software guy.
I see you as a Silicon Valley guy.
Seriously?
Insurance and financial services?
Don’t you think that’s boring?
Don’t you think you should have gone into Silicone Valley and worked as some kind of
a technology guy?”
Have I thought about it?
Yes, I’ve thought about it.
But I chose this industry.
And I was already into it too deep where I fell in love with it and I said, “We’ve got
to figure out a way to take this to a whole different level.
And now we’re disrupting the industry in a way that others aren’t doing, right?
But I chose this [the book, Mastery].
This became a very big commitment that I have to myself and I think you can do it as well.
#7: The next book.
As an entrepreneur you will have a lot of conflicts you’ll have to face.
One great book that I have on my list is, not on this list but on my top 100 list is
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, but it’s not the next book.
And he talks about one of the levels that people have a hard time with is avoidance
of conflict.
A lot of people don’t even want to deal with conflict.
We’re afraid of conflict because you had a father or mother or an ex or somebody that
you know, you would have a fight and it was always ugly, and screaming and your mom were
screaming and your dad, and people didn’t speak for two or three weeks, and so every
time conflict comes up, you run away.
No, no, no, no.
It’s okay, no worries, let’s work it, let’s move on, right?
But it doesn’t really improve things.
This book make it on my # 7 list, Crucial Conversations, which has sold 2 million copies.
It’s written by these four consultants.
They wrote the book together.
I’ve gone to a course of theirs; I highly recommend it, it’s a very good course.
We even made a funny video about it, I think 2 years ago, it’s a really funny video we
made where Mario and Paul are actually acting with gummy bears and all this stuff.
Real, real interesting on what happened with that.
I like this book because you’re going to have to have tough conversations with vendors,
with partners, with employees, with staff, with executives, with sales, with media, with
many different people.
How you go about doing it could cost you relationships, could cost you negative feedback, could cost
you a person that doesn’t want to do business with you.
It could cost you losing a good client.
It could cost you many different things, so it’s a very, very important skill set.
Don’t watch these movies and people say, “Well, Steve Jobs cursed everybody out.
You know, I just saw Ashton Kutcher act like Steve Jobs was cursing everybody out.
I’m going to take that approach.”
Okay, great.
try doing that when you’re negotiating with people where the leverage is not on your side.
Then what are you going to do?
Well Mark Zuckerberg in Social Network, the movie – did you see how he spoke to the attorney?
He learned how to do some of these things.
That doesn’t happen by pure luck.
You have to learn that skill set as well.
So let me read you a part of it here, in the book that it helps you with.
Look what it says.
“Some common crucial conversations.
You tell me if you some of these areas you can improve in.
Ending a relationship — how to go about doing it.
Talking to a coworker that behaves offensively or makes suggestive comments.
Asking a friend to repay a loan.
If you have a friend that needs to repay a loan, it tells you how to do it in here.
Giving the boss feedback about her behavior.
Approaching a boss who’s breaking his own safety or quality policies.
Critiquing a colleagues work.
Asking a roommate to move out.
One of our friends could probably use that, but we’re not going to get into that.
Resolving custody or visitation issues with an ex spouse.
Holy moly, some people need help with that.
Dealing with a rebellious teen.
Talking to a team member that isn’t keeping commitments.
Discussing problems with sexual intimacy.
Wow!
That’s deep.
Confronting a loved one about substance abuse problems.
A lot of people have that issue as well.
Talking to a colleague who’s hoarding information or resources.
Giving an unfavorable performance review.
Asking in-laws to quit interfering.
Any married people can relate to that.
Talking to a coworker about a personal hygiene problem.
Hello.
Have you ever had any of these issues that you didn’t know how to handle?
Go buy this book.
Crucial Conversations.
#6 is a book that hasn’t done well.
It hasn’t sold that many copies.
I even told the author – -I hired him to come from New York to Palm Springs at that one
event we had.
We rented a 17,000 square foot house, it was a mastermind, it was the most epic mastermind
ever with a few special moments that we had.
One with John Mason, a buddy of ours that is the worst basketball player in the world,
ended up winning the game of 21 that lasted two and a half hours in 115 degree temperature.
He closed his eyes.
He prayed to all the gods in the universe, left handed shot the ball, it went in.
It’s the only shot he made, but he did end up winning the game.
Anyways, long story short, I brought in this guy, and I said, “Howard, man, why didn’t
this book do better?”
This book I got purely by luck.
You know how when you buy a book on Amazon and then all of a sudden other books come
up and by pure luck you hit something.
I searched this title and it came up and I bought it.
Nobody recommended the book to me.
I found this book by pure luck.
If they do a better job with this book they’ll sell so many more copies.
It’s a book by Howard Guttman called Great Business Teams: Cracking the Code for Standout
Performance.
Maybe we need a better title for that book.
It’s a phenomenal book.
Don’t let this book cover, title, all this stuff fool you.
It’s an exceptional book.
Look, there’s a part of it here in this book where it talks about how to hire people and
how to hold them accountable.
How to go through a performance, how to do the one-on-one critiquing.
How to create a culture.
How to overcome people, to know how to deal with conflict and collaborate instead of compromise,
instead of avoidance, instead of arguing.
It goes through every single thing.
And one of the parts is accountability.
And it gives you step-by-step on how to hold your team members accountable.
No one likes accountability, and it explains how to do it.
Point 1, be open and candid.
Say what’s on your mind.
Number 2, play for the team, not yourself or your function.
Number 3, act like you know it or be engaged.
Add value, keep the team on track.
Number 4, be personally accountable, deliver on promises.
Number 5, meet deadlines.
Number 6, Hold one another accountable for delivering business results.
Number 7, Hold one another accountable for resolving interpersonal conflicts.
Number 8, be receptive to feedback from others.
Listen carefully, depersonalize and change your behavior accordingly.
Number 9, base feedback to others on observable behavior.
Deliver feedback objectively without personalizing it or blaming.
Number 9, Act as a coach to team members in need and number 10, observe the protocols
and ground rules by which the team has agreed to operate.
Lots of great value in this book.
I highly, highly recommend this.
This book made the #6 list for me.
Great Business Teams.
#5: Next one is a book I read 13 years ago.
It was a book I couldn’t put down.
It’s somewhat technical.
Is the #5 book on my list and that book is called, “Power vs. Force” by David R. Hawkins.
This book has been recommended by Wayne Dyer, Oprah Winfrey, many different people.
A lot of people love this book.
And what it talks about is this.
A lot of times in business you’ll try to force people to move.
You’ll try to force people to do things.
You’ll try to force things to happen in your business and you feel like you’re absolutely
burning out because you’re forcing it.
It explains how to go from force to power and influence.
There’s a part in this book which explains the different level of consciousness.
I did a video on this I think four years ago that had to do with Star Wars.
And I went through the different levels of consciousness and it explains the different
levels of consciousness from the lowest to the highest level.
Lowest level is shame.
You’re ashamed of everything you’ve done.
Guilt, then apathy, then grief, fear, then desire, desire, like for sex or drugs or alcohol,
then anger, then pride.
The it’s equilibrium, which is the first level of consciousness which is a positive one.
Courage, you have the courage to talk about your faults.
You have the courage to improve.
You have the courage to get up and say, this is what I haven’t been doing, I’m going to
improve on this.
You have the courage to risk.
You have the courage to do things.
You have the courage to lead.
Then it’s neutrality, you can sit there and take other people’s opinions and you can be
neutral.
Then it’s willingness, you are willing to make things work.
You are willing to rekindle relationships, you are willing to forgive.
You are willing to work on improving.
Then it’s acceptance, accepting people and not judging people’s way, political beliefs,
religious beliefs, you know the way they view certain things, you have a certain way of
accepting that.
Reason.
You become good at processing issues.
You become a source where people will come to you to reason different issues.
Then it’s love.
You learn to love people.
That’s 500.
Then it’s joy.
You enjoy life.
Then it’s peace, not a lot gets to you.
Then the highest level is enlightenment, which only a handful of people have reached that
level, 700-1000 is what he talks about.
I just love this book.
It explains, a part in the book where he says about this phenomenon, that when a person
gets to the phase of working, elevation consciousness, often inspires a prolonged transcendence of
pain and exhaustion necessary to achieve higher levels of performance.
He says that this phenomenon is commonly described in terms of pushing oneself to the point where
one suddenly breaks through a performance barrier and the activity becomes effortless.
The body seems to move with grace, and ease of its own accord.
It’s like mystical, it’s magical.
As though animated by some invisible force, the accompanying state of joy’s quite distinct
from the thrill of success.
It’s a joy of peace and oneness with all that lives.
You get to a point when you’re running a business that everything becomes effortless.
People say, “How does he make it look so easy?”
Because it really is easy.
I went through a certain wall to get to this point where everything becomes easy.
Phenomenal book, don’t let the book’s technical-ness, that’s the word, in the first 40-50 pages
fool you to not finish this book.
It’s a very good book.
#4: This is another book like Howard Guttman’s book.
I contacted the author and said, “Hey, how come this book didn’t sell a half a million
copies?
I mean, did you guys do any marketing with this book?
I actually wanted to buy his book, meaning the rights to his book, because I was fascinated
with his book.
You probably never heard of it.
The book is called, “Barbarians to Bureaucrats:Corporate Life Cycle Strategies.”
And I loved this book because what he talks about is what happens to societies.
It’s a similar thing that happens to companies.
Remember how earlier I talked about to look at your company like a country?
He talks about a country is made by somebody that goes out there and takes the territory
and then boom, there’s warriors, barbarians, and then there’s explorers, asking where’s
the lake, where’s this.
You know, then there’s the builders, “let’s build a building.”And then there’s administrators,
“We need some laws.”
And then there are the guys that come late and they’re like, “I know everything because
I’m the educated, I’m smart”and everything collapses, right?
You see this happening in countries.
We have that happening a little bit in America right now.
But it’s a fascinating book.
Then you have a synergist that comes and gets everybody together.
So it explains that phase.
The first phase, the prophet, the visionary.
Then barbarian, then builder, explore, then administrator, then a bureaucrat, than aristocrat,
then you have the synergist.
There’s a part of the book that I want to read to you on how he views a prophet.
A prophet is the visionary.
I’ll just give you an idea to see how he talks about it.
If you work for a prophet, don’t expect them to provide specific objectives or instructions.
He is more likely to send you out to vague missions.
Ask him to discuss your objectives, then write your own based on your discussion and provide
him with a copy.
Don’t expect him to follow up on the details of your work.
He doesn’t care.
Talk to him about the large goals toward which you are working and how those goals fit in
to his vision.
Seek out the prophet for advice and ideas, particularly on large and visionary issues.
Every prophet values thinking and believes that others who enjoy discussing the ideas
are also among the wise.
Be tolerant of his latest idea.
It may sound crazy, impractical and a complete change in direction.
Don’t confront him with all this that is wrong with his brainstorm.
He is sensitive and doesn’t want to have his ideas squelched.
I mean, this is just fascinating.
If you work with a prophet, this makes sense.
Now, if a prophet works for you, you are lucky.
Recognize him with his creative abilities.
Reinforce and encourage those talents.
Do not demand that he be well-organized or conform to standard procedures.
He needs you to listen.
He needs to know that his visionary ideas are important to you.
Let him know that within your company there’s room and opportunity for the implementation
of his ideas.
Help him distinguish between his regular job and his creative ideas.
He may need to justify his salary and mundane work.
Protect him from bureaucrats.
Holy moly.
Remember that in mature companies, prophets are all too often crucified.
How interesting is that?
I’ve experienced that before.
Have patience.
Prophets work not for this quarter’s results, but for the impact they can have over the
long run.
They’re long-term thinkers.
Their view is very long-range and insistence on immediate results destroys creativity.
So why is that so important?
Well, you’ve got to also learn about how the barbarian is, how the builder is, explorer
is, administrator, bureaucrats, aristocrats.
Then whatever environment you’re working in, you’re going to sit there and say, “That guy’s
an aristocrat.”
And you’ll know how to deal with him.
“That guy’s a builder and explorer, that’s what we need.”
This is unbelievable!
And you’ll learn.
Phenomenal book, Lawrence Miller, if you’re watching this, great job writing this book.
I highly suggest you try to figure out a rewrite a new one, I’ll be one of the first to promote
your new book if you do.
So you’ve got a big fan here with your book.
#3:Alright, next one here.
It’s a classic.
The next one is the first book I ever read.
It’s a book my sister told me to read.
When I worked at Bally Total Fitness, she said, “You need to read this book.”
I did and it changed the way that I treated people, and viewed people.
Because at the end of the day, you’ve got to know your #1 product is people.
The #1 product.
It’s not software, it’s not demo products, it’s not pharmaceuticals, it’s not real estate,
it’s not social media, it’s not marketing, it’s not advertising.
It’s people.
And if you don’t know your #1 product is people, you’re going to have problems.
So, the #3 book is How to Win Friends and Influence People.
It’s a fascinating book.
It’s a classic.
Dale Carnegie.
I don’t know how many copies have sold.
The last number I read was 45 million.
It’s one of those books that you need to read.
In a nutshell, at the end, he talks about the different way of thinking to winning people.
Here’s what he says: “Principle #1.
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
#2.
Show respect for other’s opinions.
Never say “your wrong.”
#3: If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
#4: Begin in a friendly way.
#5: Get the other person saying “yes, yes, ” immediately.
#6:Let the other person do a great deal of talking.
#7: Let the other person feel like the idea is his or hers.
#8:Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
#9: Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
#10: Appeal to the noble motives.
#11: Dramatize your ideas.
#12: Throw down a challenge.”
Read the book Very good book.
It’s probably one of those books you want to read once a year, or listen to the audio
once a year.
If you read it once, just keep listening to the audio every year, one time.
It will help you out a lot.
#2 is an interesting book that was recommended to me by a good friend of mine Bryon.
Byron, if you’re watching this, I don’t know how many people I’ve had buy this book.
It’s just a fascinating book.
Byron and I, I don’t know if we were in Dallas, Byron, or if we were in Orlando.
We were both invited to this nice dinner.
Byron runs a very, very big online insurance company that does very well.
He’s very well off, he has a son that’s extremely successful who was living in.
. . he took over Shaq’s last house in L.A. and does very well in Hollywood and music.
And every time Byron and I get together, we just have the most epic conversations together.
We’re sitting there and his mind was going so fast.
It was going so fast, I was looking at his eyes and they were just bouncing all over
the place.
I like this guy.
I like the way this guy thinks.
And he’s somebody I can learn a lot from because of his brain.
He said, “Pat, you’ve got to read this book.”
I said, “What book?”
He said, “Hypomanic Edge.”
I said, “Hypomanic Edge?”
He said, “Yes.”
I’d never heard of it and I’ve read a lot of books.
But he said, Okay go read it.
This is the title:The Hypomanic Edge:The Link Between a Little Craziness and a Lot of Success
in America.”
See, when you read this book, you will look at Hypomanic, manic, ADHD, bipolar, in a completely
different way.
All of us have somebody like that in our family.
If you’re an entrepreneur some of you have been accused on some of these things.
You may be happy one day, ticked off the next minute.
Like literally in a second, [snap fingers] BOOM.
You’re changed.
How does that happen?
Are you crazy?
Do you have problems?
You know, people in school say, “Your kid has problems.”
So all you’re life you’re thinking, I have problems.
You don’t understand, I was diagnosed with B.S. which is bullshit is what I was diagnosed
with.
And all this stuff they label you with, right?And all our lives, we have problems.
No, no, no.
You don’t have problems.
You may have a lot of gifts on the way you’re brain is wired, but everyone because they’re
not wired like you, they’ve convinced you that you have problems.
You need to know that.
If you don’t know that, you think you’re going to be crazy the rest of your life.
So you read this book, and the characters it uses.
Andrew Jackson, and Hamilton, which is a fascinating story of Hamilton.
George Washington.
Clinton.
Kennedy.
It’s just incredible stories he tells.
And I’ll read a part of it here.
“My new hypothesis came from American entrepreneurs [he did a study on a couple thousand people
and he interviewed 10 high-end internet CEOs.
These are guys that were running multi-billion dollar companies.
And he asked them certain things, and I asked them if they agreed with this.
These are certain qualities that these guys may have in common as entrepreneurs.].
Listen to this: “He is filled with energy.
He is flooded with ideas.
He is driven, restless, and unable to keep still.
he channels his energy into the achievement of wildly grand ambitions.
[Is that you?]
#5 He often works on little sleep.
He feels brilliant, special, chosen, perhaps even destined to change the world.
He can be euphoric.
He becomes easily irritated by minor obstacles.
He is a risk taker. he overspends in both his business and his personal life.
He acts out sexually.
He sometimes acts impulsively, with poor judgment in ways that can have painful consequences.
He is fast talking.
He is witty and gregarious.
His confidence can make him charismatic and persuasive.
He is also prone to making enemies and feels he is persecuted by those who do not accept
his vision and mission.”
Do you relate to anybody like that?
Do you know somebody like that?
You may want to read the book called The Hypomanic Edge.
It’s #2 on my list because there’s a major misconception about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs
who don’t know how they’re wired, think they have problems.
Go read this book.
Thank me later.
#1:Last book.
I’ve read a lot of books, 1100 books, and this one is at the top of my list.
It was a gift given to me by our friend, Phyllis Brown, who bought it for me.
I set it aside and then 6 months later read the book.
And I said, “Wait a minute, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life.”
And it ended up being the #1 book and I’ve recommended it over and over and over again,
and I’ve read it so many different times.
The book is called “The Law of Success” by Napoleon Hill.
Not “Think and Grow Rich,” The Law of Success.
There are a lot of great books by Napoleon Hill.
Outwitting the Devil, which was rewritten by Sharon Lechter and you know, a bunch of
other things like Think and Grow Rich, out of all the things Napoleon Hill wrote, this
one is at the top of my list.
I mean, it talks about so many different things in life.
I’ll read you the different chapters.
Self Confidence, Initiative and Leadership, Imagination, Action, Enthusiasm, Self-Control,
Habit of Performing, More Service than Paid For, Attractive Personality, Accurate Thought,
Concentration is a fantastic chapter, Tolerance, Failure, Cooperation, Golden Rule — there’s
a lot of good stuff.
But I’ll read one of them to you.
I’ll read a small paragraph to you.
“No amount of money could possibly be made to take the place of the happiness and joy
and pride that belonged the person who digs a better ditch, who builds a better chicken
coop, or sweeps a cleaner floor or cooks a better meal.
Every normal person loves to create something that is better than the average.
They joy of creating a work of art is the joy that cannot be replaced by money, or any
other form of material possessions.”
When you make millions, and you think that’s it, if it’s only money, you will be very bored
very quickly.
If it’s about mastering something, and becoming a version of you that you yourself don’t recognize,
then you’ll experience joy and happiness.
That makes the top of my list.
Look, I had a lot of other books that would be notables; Blue Ocean Strategy is one that
I love, Seduction, Sam Walton, The Lean Startup, Psycho-Cybernetics.
There are a lot of them.
Anything you can read on Peter Drucker.
You can go through my list.
I have Top 100 list of books as well.
This is just top 10, but if you want to find out my top 100 books for entrepreneurs, you
can go to my website, we’ll put a link on the bottom.
If you haven’t been on my website, you can always go to PatrickBetDavid.com, and you
can find the books there on the right side of the website, you’ll see a link that says,
“Top 100 Books,” click on that, you’ll see all the books.
And if you haven’t read some of them, order books and read them and comment on the bottom
of what you got from the books, but I can tell you that for a guy that never went to
college, I did and I dropped out, for a guy that doesn’t have a bachelor’s or an MBA or
an associate’s or any of those, I became who I am today because I became the self-educated
student.
I didn’t rely on traditional education to have someone tell me how to run a business
who has never run a business before, but they read a textbook.
I didn’t see the value in paying 200 bucks for that.
I wanted to learn from people who actually ran businesses and these guys have experience
that taught me how to do what I’ve done with the business.
So I highly recommend that you go get those books if you haven’t read them, and if there
are any other books you would add to the list, comment on the bottom.
If you’ve got any questions or comments and thoughts about the books I recommended as
well, comment on the bottom, and last but not least, Mario, throw me my new pillow.
Hey, we’ve got a big project that’s coming up.
I’ve been talking about this a lot lately.
It’s going to be in August.
And I am very, very, very excited about this.
We just purchased a domain name for six figures, and you’ll find out what this domain name
is, it’s going to be very, very big.
It’s been finalized, we own the domain name now, it will be launched to you very, very
soon.
Our goal is to get this YouTube channel to over 100,000 subscribers by August 31, and
we need your help.
We got a lot of loyal followers, a lot of people that comment.
I try to get back to everybody, on YouTube.
If you haven’t yet subscribed to this channel, please do so, and if you’re a loyal fan of
getting great content on a weekly basis, we believe our channel can go against anybody
on YouTube for the topic of entrepreneurship – -anybody on YouTube, we’re very confident
against going with anybody on YouTube on becoming a successful entrepreneur, so if you love
the channel, help us get to 100,000.
Get your friends and peers to also subscribe to this channel as well.
With that being said, see that button right there, click on it.
Thanks for watching, take care.
Bye bye.
explain your top 10 books of all time in entrepreneurship?”
So that’s exactly what I’m doing in this video.
The top 10 best books that I believe every entrepreneur ought to read and why.
I may read a thing or two from the book to explain why the book is so necessary for entrepreneurs
to read.
Now keep in mind, there are a lot of great books.
I’ve got a lot of great books that I wanted to put on the list but there’s only 10 of
them that made it.
So, #10 on this list, the #10 book, why I believe every entrepreneur needs to read this
is a book by a good friend of mine, Robert Greene, who’s written The 40 Laws of Power,
33, Mastery, Art of Seduction, 50th Law, and he’s working on another one.
He and I were talking last week, that’s going to be unbelievable, similar to the 40 Laws
of Power.
The number 10 book on my list is The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene.
And I’ll tell you why.
Some people ask, “Why do you talk about war?
What does this have to do with entrepreneurship?
And I’ll explain to you exactly why.
Listen, think about running a business, as running a small tribe.
You’ve heard of Tribal Leadership, which is #11 by the way, but you’re running a small
little tribe.
In other words, you’re running a country, right?
And when you’re running a country, and you’re small, getting started, typically, no one’s
going to try to take over America or Russia, maybe.
Or a major, major country.
Unless you’re some crazy guy from Germany, than that’s a different story, but most of
the time, people don’t go after the bigger countries.
They make the bigger countries the last to go after.
They start off by taking out small countries.
When you’re an entrepreneur, you are running a very, very small country.
And everybody out there has one goal.
Every competitor of yours.
They want to put you out of business — if you’re a direct competitor.
Not a sideline, not somebody they can partner up with and you can cross pollinate and they
sell your product and you sell their product, or partnership on software.
If they’re not somebody that can be a vendor or a partner, they want you to go out of business.
Think about that.
So if you don’t know the different strategies they’re going to use to put you out of business,
you’re going to be caught in a way that you say, “What the heck just happened?”
These are pros.
These are professionals.
You’re not dealing with lightweights or like, “oh, it’s so great, let us also help you get
into business and make it.”
No.
Their goal is for you to go out of business.
Period.
So you’ve got to have a mindset of a general, a warrior, a strategist, somebody that’s going
to be thinking like the Alexander or Napoleon, so you know when someone’s maneuvering a certain
way, you’ll understand what’s happening over there and here’s what we’re going to do over
here to have an edge for yourself.
Okay.
Let me read a part of this book here.
My favorite strategy in this book is #4.
He says, “Create a sense of urgency and desperation.
He calls it the death ground strategy.”
Let me read it to you.
“You are your worst enemy.
You waste precious time dreaming of the future instead of engaging in the present.
Since nothing seems so urgent to you, you are only half involved in what you do.
The only way to change is through action and outside pressure.
Put yourself in situations where you have way too much at stake to waste time or resources.
If you cannot afford to lose, you won’t.
Cut your ties to the past.
Enter unknown territory where you must be depending on your wits and energy to see you
through.
Place yourself on death ground, where your back is against the wall and you have to fight
like hell to get out alive.”
See, I like that mindset.
And it goes into explaining what other people thought that way or did it that way that helped
them get out of it and going out there and winning, so The #10 book on my list is 33
Strategies of War.
Lots of great strategies in there.
#9 – The #9 book is an author I heard 14 years ago, I heard him speak, and I think I heard
him speak in either San Jose or Palm Springs.
I heard this man speak, Michael Gerber.
He wrote a book called, The E Myth.
And the reason why The E Myth is a very, very important book to read is because it allows
you as the person who calls themself the entrepreneur to realize that maybe you’re really not an
entrepreneur.
You think you’re an entrepreneur, but you’re not really an entrepreneur.
Right?
Or, you are an entrepreneur, but you’re not paying attention to the other sides of the
business which is the systems side.
Because a lot of times the entrepreneur may be the visionary and not want to deal with
all the minutia, and just want to go out there and do all this stuff, and they’re not really
paying attention to systems and so you can’t really scale your business.
He talks about that in the book.
I’ll read a part of this book to you.
It says, “If your business is having problems, in all likelihood, the problem has never been
your business.
It has always been you.
Perhaps you see yourself as an entrepreneur but work more like a technician.
To clarify what we mean by this, let’s have a look at the two definitions.
Entrepreneur.
A person who has vision and dreams of a better future.
They innovate, create and practice forward thinking.
Technician.
A person how is a doer, a worker, a person who isn’t interested in ideas, but actions.
Now, when a technician — listen — when a technician’s bored of making money for their
boss and they decide to start their own business, they fail because they see a business as a
place to go to work.
It’s just another job.
That’s why a lot of people fail as an entrepreneur, because they’re really technicians.
But instead of doing one job, the job they’ve always done, they do all jobs that a business
requires.
Thus the business fails because the technician burns out, unable to juggle all the jobs that
need doing and they ultimately despair.
The solution according to Gerber is not necessarily to turn from being an entrepreneur to being
a technician but to unleash the entrepreneur spirit within the technician.
The technician who goes into business without an entrepreneur perspective will fail.
There is no argument about this.
You can still be a technician and hard working, loving what you do, but you need to be an
entrepreneur, too and an entrepreneur is someone who knows that a business is not simply a
place to go to work, it is much more than that.
So what does that mean?
I had a conversation.
One of my good friends finally came to me and said, “Look, I was working for a company.
I was the #7 guy.
Then I became the #5 guy.
Then I became the #3 guy.
And then I became the #2 guy.
And then I said, “I’m going to go out there and be the #1 guy.
He went and became the #1 guy and it was the worst victory of his lifetime.
He made 6 million here, 3 million here, 2 million here, 8 million here.
He made nothing on the last one.
No victory.
And he said that after realizing why that was, I realized I don’t make a good #1, but
I make a very good #2.
And he repositioned himself and followed it with another big victory.
Why is this?
He understood himself.
That’s what E Myth will do when you read it, getting a whole different perspective in your
business.
#8: The next book I want to tell you about is again by Robert Greene.
The 40 Laws of Power was #12 on my list and I put Mastery at #8 and I’ll tell you why
I put Mastery at #8.
So many people in life will live a life.
. . let’s just say that you and I have 75 to 100 years to live.
Some of you live 75, some may live 92.
Most people die never really mastering anything.
They master being bored.
They master watching T.V.
They master a lot of other things, but very few people master a skill set or a trade.
Very few people.
And I don’t care what you do.
I saw a video the other day, I posted it on Facebook, that was about these people who
are taking these things and they’re spinning it and it’s going around and they’re doing
it so perfectly and this one guy who’s clean the window at an airport which was insane.
This other guys that’s cutting the watermelon in a way that’s just ridiculous.
This other guys that cutting an onion in a way I’ve never seen before.
And I respect that.
I respect professionals.
I respect people that take a certain small thing and they become masters at it.
This book does a very good job using stories of whether it’s Franklin or some other musicians
on explaining how you, yourself, can go from somebody who’s a novice at anything you do
that no one knows about.
You may like it but you’re not good at it or even great at it, and using formulas that
other people have used for you to become a master at what you’re doing.
Lots of people, they see opportunities and they say, “Oh my God, I want to do this.
Oh, I’m going to go out there and do this or that” and they keep changing, changing,
changing, over a 5, 10, 15, 20 year period, and they never really experience a big victory
because they just learned a lot of things but they never mastered anything.
Very, very important book.
One of the main reasons why people kept asking me, you know, someone told me the other day,
“Pat, I see you more as a technology guy, man.
I see you as a software guy.
I see you as a Silicon Valley guy.
Seriously?
Insurance and financial services?
Don’t you think that’s boring?
Don’t you think you should have gone into Silicone Valley and worked as some kind of
a technology guy?”
Have I thought about it?
Yes, I’ve thought about it.
But I chose this industry.
And I was already into it too deep where I fell in love with it and I said, “We’ve got
to figure out a way to take this to a whole different level.
And now we’re disrupting the industry in a way that others aren’t doing, right?
But I chose this [the book, Mastery].
This became a very big commitment that I have to myself and I think you can do it as well.
#7: The next book.
As an entrepreneur you will have a lot of conflicts you’ll have to face.
One great book that I have on my list is, not on this list but on my top 100 list is
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, but it’s not the next book.
And he talks about one of the levels that people have a hard time with is avoidance
of conflict.
A lot of people don’t even want to deal with conflict.
We’re afraid of conflict because you had a father or mother or an ex or somebody that
you know, you would have a fight and it was always ugly, and screaming and your mom were
screaming and your dad, and people didn’t speak for two or three weeks, and so every
time conflict comes up, you run away.
No, no, no, no.
It’s okay, no worries, let’s work it, let’s move on, right?
But it doesn’t really improve things.
This book make it on my # 7 list, Crucial Conversations, which has sold 2 million copies.
It’s written by these four consultants.
They wrote the book together.
I’ve gone to a course of theirs; I highly recommend it, it’s a very good course.
We even made a funny video about it, I think 2 years ago, it’s a really funny video we
made where Mario and Paul are actually acting with gummy bears and all this stuff.
Real, real interesting on what happened with that.
I like this book because you’re going to have to have tough conversations with vendors,
with partners, with employees, with staff, with executives, with sales, with media, with
many different people.
How you go about doing it could cost you relationships, could cost you negative feedback, could cost
you a person that doesn’t want to do business with you.
It could cost you losing a good client.
It could cost you many different things, so it’s a very, very important skill set.
Don’t watch these movies and people say, “Well, Steve Jobs cursed everybody out.
You know, I just saw Ashton Kutcher act like Steve Jobs was cursing everybody out.
I’m going to take that approach.”
Okay, great.
try doing that when you’re negotiating with people where the leverage is not on your side.
Then what are you going to do?
Well Mark Zuckerberg in Social Network, the movie – did you see how he spoke to the attorney?
He learned how to do some of these things.
That doesn’t happen by pure luck.
You have to learn that skill set as well.
So let me read you a part of it here, in the book that it helps you with.
Look what it says.
“Some common crucial conversations.
You tell me if you some of these areas you can improve in.
Ending a relationship — how to go about doing it.
Talking to a coworker that behaves offensively or makes suggestive comments.
Asking a friend to repay a loan.
If you have a friend that needs to repay a loan, it tells you how to do it in here.
Giving the boss feedback about her behavior.
Approaching a boss who’s breaking his own safety or quality policies.
Critiquing a colleagues work.
Asking a roommate to move out.
One of our friends could probably use that, but we’re not going to get into that.
Resolving custody or visitation issues with an ex spouse.
Holy moly, some people need help with that.
Dealing with a rebellious teen.
Talking to a team member that isn’t keeping commitments.
Discussing problems with sexual intimacy.
Wow!
That’s deep.
Confronting a loved one about substance abuse problems.
A lot of people have that issue as well.
Talking to a colleague who’s hoarding information or resources.
Giving an unfavorable performance review.
Asking in-laws to quit interfering.
Any married people can relate to that.
Talking to a coworker about a personal hygiene problem.
Hello.
Have you ever had any of these issues that you didn’t know how to handle?
Go buy this book.
Crucial Conversations.
#6 is a book that hasn’t done well.
It hasn’t sold that many copies.
I even told the author – -I hired him to come from New York to Palm Springs at that one
event we had.
We rented a 17,000 square foot house, it was a mastermind, it was the most epic mastermind
ever with a few special moments that we had.
One with John Mason, a buddy of ours that is the worst basketball player in the world,
ended up winning the game of 21 that lasted two and a half hours in 115 degree temperature.
He closed his eyes.
He prayed to all the gods in the universe, left handed shot the ball, it went in.
It’s the only shot he made, but he did end up winning the game.
Anyways, long story short, I brought in this guy, and I said, “Howard, man, why didn’t
this book do better?”
This book I got purely by luck.
You know how when you buy a book on Amazon and then all of a sudden other books come
up and by pure luck you hit something.
I searched this title and it came up and I bought it.
Nobody recommended the book to me.
I found this book by pure luck.
If they do a better job with this book they’ll sell so many more copies.
It’s a book by Howard Guttman called Great Business Teams: Cracking the Code for Standout
Performance.
Maybe we need a better title for that book.
It’s a phenomenal book.
Don’t let this book cover, title, all this stuff fool you.
It’s an exceptional book.
Look, there’s a part of it here in this book where it talks about how to hire people and
how to hold them accountable.
How to go through a performance, how to do the one-on-one critiquing.
How to create a culture.
How to overcome people, to know how to deal with conflict and collaborate instead of compromise,
instead of avoidance, instead of arguing.
It goes through every single thing.
And one of the parts is accountability.
And it gives you step-by-step on how to hold your team members accountable.
No one likes accountability, and it explains how to do it.
Point 1, be open and candid.
Say what’s on your mind.
Number 2, play for the team, not yourself or your function.
Number 3, act like you know it or be engaged.
Add value, keep the team on track.
Number 4, be personally accountable, deliver on promises.
Number 5, meet deadlines.
Number 6, Hold one another accountable for delivering business results.
Number 7, Hold one another accountable for resolving interpersonal conflicts.
Number 8, be receptive to feedback from others.
Listen carefully, depersonalize and change your behavior accordingly.
Number 9, base feedback to others on observable behavior.
Deliver feedback objectively without personalizing it or blaming.
Number 9, Act as a coach to team members in need and number 10, observe the protocols
and ground rules by which the team has agreed to operate.
Lots of great value in this book.
I highly, highly recommend this.
This book made the #6 list for me.
Great Business Teams.
#5: Next one is a book I read 13 years ago.
It was a book I couldn’t put down.
It’s somewhat technical.
Is the #5 book on my list and that book is called, “Power vs. Force” by David R. Hawkins.
This book has been recommended by Wayne Dyer, Oprah Winfrey, many different people.
A lot of people love this book.
And what it talks about is this.
A lot of times in business you’ll try to force people to move.
You’ll try to force people to do things.
You’ll try to force things to happen in your business and you feel like you’re absolutely
burning out because you’re forcing it.
It explains how to go from force to power and influence.
There’s a part in this book which explains the different level of consciousness.
I did a video on this I think four years ago that had to do with Star Wars.
And I went through the different levels of consciousness and it explains the different
levels of consciousness from the lowest to the highest level.
Lowest level is shame.
You’re ashamed of everything you’ve done.
Guilt, then apathy, then grief, fear, then desire, desire, like for sex or drugs or alcohol,
then anger, then pride.
The it’s equilibrium, which is the first level of consciousness which is a positive one.
Courage, you have the courage to talk about your faults.
You have the courage to improve.
You have the courage to get up and say, this is what I haven’t been doing, I’m going to
improve on this.
You have the courage to risk.
You have the courage to do things.
You have the courage to lead.
Then it’s neutrality, you can sit there and take other people’s opinions and you can be
neutral.
Then it’s willingness, you are willing to make things work.
You are willing to rekindle relationships, you are willing to forgive.
You are willing to work on improving.
Then it’s acceptance, accepting people and not judging people’s way, political beliefs,
religious beliefs, you know the way they view certain things, you have a certain way of
accepting that.
Reason.
You become good at processing issues.
You become a source where people will come to you to reason different issues.
Then it’s love.
You learn to love people.
That’s 500.
Then it’s joy.
You enjoy life.
Then it’s peace, not a lot gets to you.
Then the highest level is enlightenment, which only a handful of people have reached that
level, 700-1000 is what he talks about.
I just love this book.
It explains, a part in the book where he says about this phenomenon, that when a person
gets to the phase of working, elevation consciousness, often inspires a prolonged transcendence of
pain and exhaustion necessary to achieve higher levels of performance.
He says that this phenomenon is commonly described in terms of pushing oneself to the point where
one suddenly breaks through a performance barrier and the activity becomes effortless.
The body seems to move with grace, and ease of its own accord.
It’s like mystical, it’s magical.
As though animated by some invisible force, the accompanying state of joy’s quite distinct
from the thrill of success.
It’s a joy of peace and oneness with all that lives.
You get to a point when you’re running a business that everything becomes effortless.
People say, “How does he make it look so easy?”
Because it really is easy.
I went through a certain wall to get to this point where everything becomes easy.
Phenomenal book, don’t let the book’s technical-ness, that’s the word, in the first 40-50 pages
fool you to not finish this book.
It’s a very good book.
#4: This is another book like Howard Guttman’s book.
I contacted the author and said, “Hey, how come this book didn’t sell a half a million
copies?
I mean, did you guys do any marketing with this book?
I actually wanted to buy his book, meaning the rights to his book, because I was fascinated
with his book.
You probably never heard of it.
The book is called, “Barbarians to Bureaucrats:Corporate Life Cycle Strategies.”
And I loved this book because what he talks about is what happens to societies.
It’s a similar thing that happens to companies.
Remember how earlier I talked about to look at your company like a country?
He talks about a country is made by somebody that goes out there and takes the territory
and then boom, there’s warriors, barbarians, and then there’s explorers, asking where’s
the lake, where’s this.
You know, then there’s the builders, “let’s build a building.”And then there’s administrators,
“We need some laws.”
And then there are the guys that come late and they’re like, “I know everything because
I’m the educated, I’m smart”and everything collapses, right?
You see this happening in countries.
We have that happening a little bit in America right now.
But it’s a fascinating book.
Then you have a synergist that comes and gets everybody together.
So it explains that phase.
The first phase, the prophet, the visionary.
Then barbarian, then builder, explore, then administrator, then a bureaucrat, than aristocrat,
then you have the synergist.
There’s a part of the book that I want to read to you on how he views a prophet.
A prophet is the visionary.
I’ll just give you an idea to see how he talks about it.
If you work for a prophet, don’t expect them to provide specific objectives or instructions.
He is more likely to send you out to vague missions.
Ask him to discuss your objectives, then write your own based on your discussion and provide
him with a copy.
Don’t expect him to follow up on the details of your work.
He doesn’t care.
Talk to him about the large goals toward which you are working and how those goals fit in
to his vision.
Seek out the prophet for advice and ideas, particularly on large and visionary issues.
Every prophet values thinking and believes that others who enjoy discussing the ideas
are also among the wise.
Be tolerant of his latest idea.
It may sound crazy, impractical and a complete change in direction.
Don’t confront him with all this that is wrong with his brainstorm.
He is sensitive and doesn’t want to have his ideas squelched.
I mean, this is just fascinating.
If you work with a prophet, this makes sense.
Now, if a prophet works for you, you are lucky.
Recognize him with his creative abilities.
Reinforce and encourage those talents.
Do not demand that he be well-organized or conform to standard procedures.
He needs you to listen.
He needs to know that his visionary ideas are important to you.
Let him know that within your company there’s room and opportunity for the implementation
of his ideas.
Help him distinguish between his regular job and his creative ideas.
He may need to justify his salary and mundane work.
Protect him from bureaucrats.
Holy moly.
Remember that in mature companies, prophets are all too often crucified.
How interesting is that?
I’ve experienced that before.
Have patience.
Prophets work not for this quarter’s results, but for the impact they can have over the
long run.
They’re long-term thinkers.
Their view is very long-range and insistence on immediate results destroys creativity.
So why is that so important?
Well, you’ve got to also learn about how the barbarian is, how the builder is, explorer
is, administrator, bureaucrats, aristocrats.
Then whatever environment you’re working in, you’re going to sit there and say, “That guy’s
an aristocrat.”
And you’ll know how to deal with him.
“That guy’s a builder and explorer, that’s what we need.”
This is unbelievable!
And you’ll learn.
Phenomenal book, Lawrence Miller, if you’re watching this, great job writing this book.
I highly suggest you try to figure out a rewrite a new one, I’ll be one of the first to promote
your new book if you do.
So you’ve got a big fan here with your book.
#3:Alright, next one here.
It’s a classic.
The next one is the first book I ever read.
It’s a book my sister told me to read.
When I worked at Bally Total Fitness, she said, “You need to read this book.”
I did and it changed the way that I treated people, and viewed people.
Because at the end of the day, you’ve got to know your #1 product is people.
The #1 product.
It’s not software, it’s not demo products, it’s not pharmaceuticals, it’s not real estate,
it’s not social media, it’s not marketing, it’s not advertising.
It’s people.
And if you don’t know your #1 product is people, you’re going to have problems.
So, the #3 book is How to Win Friends and Influence People.
It’s a fascinating book.
It’s a classic.
Dale Carnegie.
I don’t know how many copies have sold.
The last number I read was 45 million.
It’s one of those books that you need to read.
In a nutshell, at the end, he talks about the different way of thinking to winning people.
Here’s what he says: “Principle #1.
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
#2.
Show respect for other’s opinions.
Never say “your wrong.”
#3: If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
#4: Begin in a friendly way.
#5: Get the other person saying “yes, yes, ” immediately.
#6:Let the other person do a great deal of talking.
#7: Let the other person feel like the idea is his or hers.
#8:Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
#9: Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
#10: Appeal to the noble motives.
#11: Dramatize your ideas.
#12: Throw down a challenge.”
Read the book Very good book.
It’s probably one of those books you want to read once a year, or listen to the audio
once a year.
If you read it once, just keep listening to the audio every year, one time.
It will help you out a lot.
#2 is an interesting book that was recommended to me by a good friend of mine Bryon.
Byron, if you’re watching this, I don’t know how many people I’ve had buy this book.
It’s just a fascinating book.
Byron and I, I don’t know if we were in Dallas, Byron, or if we were in Orlando.
We were both invited to this nice dinner.
Byron runs a very, very big online insurance company that does very well.
He’s very well off, he has a son that’s extremely successful who was living in.
. . he took over Shaq’s last house in L.A. and does very well in Hollywood and music.
And every time Byron and I get together, we just have the most epic conversations together.
We’re sitting there and his mind was going so fast.
It was going so fast, I was looking at his eyes and they were just bouncing all over
the place.
I like this guy.
I like the way this guy thinks.
And he’s somebody I can learn a lot from because of his brain.
He said, “Pat, you’ve got to read this book.”
I said, “What book?”
He said, “Hypomanic Edge.”
I said, “Hypomanic Edge?”
He said, “Yes.”
I’d never heard of it and I’ve read a lot of books.
But he said, Okay go read it.
This is the title:The Hypomanic Edge:The Link Between a Little Craziness and a Lot of Success
in America.”
See, when you read this book, you will look at Hypomanic, manic, ADHD, bipolar, in a completely
different way.
All of us have somebody like that in our family.
If you’re an entrepreneur some of you have been accused on some of these things.
You may be happy one day, ticked off the next minute.
Like literally in a second, [snap fingers] BOOM.
You’re changed.
How does that happen?
Are you crazy?
Do you have problems?
You know, people in school say, “Your kid has problems.”
So all you’re life you’re thinking, I have problems.
You don’t understand, I was diagnosed with B.S. which is bullshit is what I was diagnosed
with.
And all this stuff they label you with, right?And all our lives, we have problems.
No, no, no.
You don’t have problems.
You may have a lot of gifts on the way you’re brain is wired, but everyone because they’re
not wired like you, they’ve convinced you that you have problems.
You need to know that.
If you don’t know that, you think you’re going to be crazy the rest of your life.
So you read this book, and the characters it uses.
Andrew Jackson, and Hamilton, which is a fascinating story of Hamilton.
George Washington.
Clinton.
Kennedy.
It’s just incredible stories he tells.
And I’ll read a part of it here.
“My new hypothesis came from American entrepreneurs [he did a study on a couple thousand people
and he interviewed 10 high-end internet CEOs.
These are guys that were running multi-billion dollar companies.
And he asked them certain things, and I asked them if they agreed with this.
These are certain qualities that these guys may have in common as entrepreneurs.].
Listen to this: “He is filled with energy.
He is flooded with ideas.
He is driven, restless, and unable to keep still.
he channels his energy into the achievement of wildly grand ambitions.
[Is that you?]
#5 He often works on little sleep.
He feels brilliant, special, chosen, perhaps even destined to change the world.
He can be euphoric.
He becomes easily irritated by minor obstacles.
He is a risk taker. he overspends in both his business and his personal life.
He acts out sexually.
He sometimes acts impulsively, with poor judgment in ways that can have painful consequences.
He is fast talking.
He is witty and gregarious.
His confidence can make him charismatic and persuasive.
He is also prone to making enemies and feels he is persecuted by those who do not accept
his vision and mission.”
Do you relate to anybody like that?
Do you know somebody like that?
You may want to read the book called The Hypomanic Edge.
It’s #2 on my list because there’s a major misconception about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs
who don’t know how they’re wired, think they have problems.
Go read this book.
Thank me later.
#1:Last book.
I’ve read a lot of books, 1100 books, and this one is at the top of my list.
It was a gift given to me by our friend, Phyllis Brown, who bought it for me.
I set it aside and then 6 months later read the book.
And I said, “Wait a minute, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life.”
And it ended up being the #1 book and I’ve recommended it over and over and over again,
and I’ve read it so many different times.
The book is called “The Law of Success” by Napoleon Hill.
Not “Think and Grow Rich,” The Law of Success.
There are a lot of great books by Napoleon Hill.
Outwitting the Devil, which was rewritten by Sharon Lechter and you know, a bunch of
other things like Think and Grow Rich, out of all the things Napoleon Hill wrote, this
one is at the top of my list.
I mean, it talks about so many different things in life.
I’ll read you the different chapters.
Self Confidence, Initiative and Leadership, Imagination, Action, Enthusiasm, Self-Control,
Habit of Performing, More Service than Paid For, Attractive Personality, Accurate Thought,
Concentration is a fantastic chapter, Tolerance, Failure, Cooperation, Golden Rule — there’s
a lot of good stuff.
But I’ll read one of them to you.
I’ll read a small paragraph to you.
“No amount of money could possibly be made to take the place of the happiness and joy
and pride that belonged the person who digs a better ditch, who builds a better chicken
coop, or sweeps a cleaner floor or cooks a better meal.
Every normal person loves to create something that is better than the average.
They joy of creating a work of art is the joy that cannot be replaced by money, or any
other form of material possessions.”
When you make millions, and you think that’s it, if it’s only money, you will be very bored
very quickly.
If it’s about mastering something, and becoming a version of you that you yourself don’t recognize,
then you’ll experience joy and happiness.
That makes the top of my list.
Look, I had a lot of other books that would be notables; Blue Ocean Strategy is one that
I love, Seduction, Sam Walton, The Lean Startup, Psycho-Cybernetics.
There are a lot of them.
Anything you can read on Peter Drucker.
You can go through my list.
I have Top 100 list of books as well.
This is just top 10, but if you want to find out my top 100 books for entrepreneurs, you
can go to my website, we’ll put a link on the bottom.
If you haven’t been on my website, you can always go to PatrickBetDavid.com, and you
can find the books there on the right side of the website, you’ll see a link that says,
“Top 100 Books,” click on that, you’ll see all the books.
And if you haven’t read some of them, order books and read them and comment on the bottom
of what you got from the books, but I can tell you that for a guy that never went to
college, I did and I dropped out, for a guy that doesn’t have a bachelor’s or an MBA or
an associate’s or any of those, I became who I am today because I became the self-educated
student.
I didn’t rely on traditional education to have someone tell me how to run a business
who has never run a business before, but they read a textbook.
I didn’t see the value in paying 200 bucks for that.
I wanted to learn from people who actually ran businesses and these guys have experience
that taught me how to do what I’ve done with the business.
So I highly recommend that you go get those books if you haven’t read them, and if there
are any other books you would add to the list, comment on the bottom.
If you’ve got any questions or comments and thoughts about the books I recommended as
well, comment on the bottom, and last but not least, Mario, throw me my new pillow.
Hey, we’ve got a big project that’s coming up.
I’ve been talking about this a lot lately.
It’s going to be in August.
And I am very, very, very excited about this.
We just purchased a domain name for six figures, and you’ll find out what this domain name
is, it’s going to be very, very big.
It’s been finalized, we own the domain name now, it will be launched to you very, very
soon.
Our goal is to get this YouTube channel to over 100,000 subscribers by August 31, and
we need your help.
We got a lot of loyal followers, a lot of people that comment.
I try to get back to everybody, on YouTube.
If you haven’t yet subscribed to this channel, please do so, and if you’re a loyal fan of
getting great content on a weekly basis, we believe our channel can go against anybody
on YouTube for the topic of entrepreneurship – -anybody on YouTube, we’re very confident
against going with anybody on YouTube on becoming a successful entrepreneur, so if you love
the channel, help us get to 100,000.
Get your friends and peers to also subscribe to this channel as well.
With that being said, see that button right there, click on it.
Thanks for watching, take care.
Bye bye.
Please follow and like us: