Friday Five: 5 Books to Cultivate Your Small (Creative) Business

1. Pinfluence by Beth Hayden

I was initially weary about opening a Pinterest account (way back in 2012). I was starting to feel overwhelmed by social media; I felt like I was spending more time on it than making jewelry. But once I read this book I quickly changed my mind. Beth gives awesome tips on how to leverage Pinterest to grow your business and gain customers. I still have a bunch of Beth’s tips to follow up on, but it has been a great tool as I can see that it has brought people to my Etsy shop. I liked this book so much I even bought a copy of it for my Nook that I periodically reference. (By the way, I first heard about Beth Hayden and her book from listening to Blogcast FM, a really great podcast site for bloggers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs. Go check it out!)

2. Working for Yourself: Law & Taxes for Independent Contractors, Freelancers & Consultants by Stephen Fishman, JD

This might not sound like the most interesting books, but it is actually a really easy and surprisingly enjoyable read, given the topic at hand. This book breaks down all major aspects aspects of running a small business, from the different legal entities and what’s right for your business to trademarking to record keeping. In my opinion it is a great reference book and helped me to put together a to-do list of things I needed to do for my business.

3. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sine

This book was fantastic and will really get you thinking about not just what you do and how you do it, but the why behind it. Sine’s big takeaway from doing case studies on truly successful businesses is that rather than focusing on the first two their messaging focuses on the reason behind why it is why they do what they do. You will start to look at your business and how your market in a entirely new light.

4. Craft, Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco

Ah, a book specifically about starting and owning a craft businesses. Each chapter includes an interview with a different successful craft business owner and then follows up with a specific topic covered in the interview, from legal entities to marketing. Not only is it a beautiful book to look through, but it gives a great baseline understanding of business topics, particularly those that apply to craft businesses.

5. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

Ever wonder what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is and how to use it? This is the book to start with. I have to be honest, I had checked this book out of the library at the same time that I had borrowed a bazillion other books, and I didn’t get to finish it before it was due (it’s a hot book and I couldn’t renew it boo!). But from what I did read, they made a technical topic pretty easy to understand and apply. And as a bonus, the authors co-founded Hubspot, which is based in Cambridge, MA just like me! (Which is obviously a huge draw for you all to read it.)

What books have you found to be helpful in starting or growing your small business?

If you liked this post, you might also want to check out:

• 5 blog posts for creative entrepreneurs
• What are you doing to make time for creativity?
• 8 tips to manage your time better
• 5 ridiculously simple things I do to stay on task