You Should Read These 4 Books EVERY Year

Key Takeaways

all right everybody back again like tag team now I watched this video from Iman godi about the 17 books you should read and I also got hit with the short from Alex orosy around the 13 books you should read and I went down this rabbit hole and it seems like everybody talks about all these dozen or two dozen or three dozen or 50 books you should read you should read a new one every week I'm going to challenge all that instead of reading one new book every single week and having no idea what's going on what if I give you four that you could read 13 times in a single year and you could actually own that information in your life could be fundamentally better instead of having a trophy wall of all this information that you kind of skam you could own the skills and the knowledge that'll fundamentally change your life today I'm going to show you the four books that will change everything for you if you're an entrepreneur a marketer or a business operator let's get into it cuz this knowledge this knowledge made me a millionaire and you deserve that too let's go all right so the first book here a really popular one basically on all the lists that I know it's called the E myth Revisited so let me give you five reason you should really check out this book so the first point is it demystifies common myths around starting a business and really helps point to why most small businesses fail remember over 80% of small businesses fail and this points out why the vast majority of them never had a chance to begin with the second part about this book that I love is the emphasis on working on your business instead of in it one of the things that I teach so often in this channel around your Facebook ads is you should not be working in your ad account when you can be working on your business like the video we had last week where you're coming through the funnel and down the customer Journey if your entire thing is working in the ad account to make this happen then you miss out on all of this money and you're working really really hard to get far less than you deserve Market validation this working is not the end game it's the starting point to all of this much cheaper much easier far more sustainable much greater amount of money and you deserve this this don't just Define your success is basically doing this which is peing in high school at best the third thing I love about this book is the emphasis on systems and process if your business needs you then you don't have something that can Thrive above and beyond your ability to do work and this is one of the most fundamental things that I think trips up the most amount of people so Point number four that I love here that is absolutely critical is it highlights the difference between three different types of people the technician the manager and the entrepreneur and the sad part is far too many people that are good at one think that they need to be good at the other stuff the honest truth is the more you lean into what you are good at and then surround yourself with people who are far better than you at everything that you are not the best in the room at the more successful you will be this is the difference between between being a performance marketer and somebody on a growth team the best folks surround themselves so that they are the dumbest person in the room at everything that they're not the smartest person in the room at being that is a superpower the humility and the clarity and the focus and no other book that I've ever read really clearly personifies each one of these skills and allows you to basically pick your lane and gives you the road map on how to be successful once you've identified yourself as one of those three and ultimately this leads us to the fifth point which is the stepbystep foundation to how a business can Thrive without the founder and remember if your business is directly dependent on how hard you work or more importantly if it can't work without you then I would argue that you don't really have a business what you have is you've built yourself a full-time job that doesn't pay overtime and much like we see with cost caps and Advantage Plus marketers of the world as soon as the wind swings in the other direction you go from the greatest days ever to completely dead in the water because you haven't built your success on a strong Foundation all right so let me talk about the importance for the marketers here and by the way we're going to do this for each one of these books the emit Revisited teaches the importance of systems in marketing which can ensure consistency and efficiency when reaching and engaging new customers now let's talk about the importance of the emth Revisited for the business operator this book offers insights and really a how-to manual for streamlining your operations through the use of standard operating procedures which is ultimately crucial for scalability and quality control run back to that video we did last week it's crucial for this if you don't have consistency and stability here you can never work on the value of this the emth Revisited literally lays out everything that you need to know to make sure that you stabilize this and then what you need to do to make this happen and the last point for emth Revisited is the importance for the entrepreneur this book better than any other that I've seen encourages entrepreneurs to adopt a strategic mindset focusing on building a business that can operate independently from their own individual efforts remember if you have to do everything in your business your business will never be bigger than you and if you don't build something that doesn't need your day-to-day operations then at best you are completely beholden to Market forces again that's why the cost cappers that focus on just the most efficient CPA and the folks trying to get you the best margin per product sold aren't the people that are going to help you build the rest of your Empire remember we talked about this in last week's video I know I keep referencing it but like I wanted to build on that because it was such a popular and groundbreaking way of looking at stuff and just how important it is to understand the difference between the marketing funnel and the customer journey and I know I keep coming back to this but it's very important to understand the difference between the marketing funnel and the customer journey and again that's what last week's video was all about once again go back and check it out the link is down in the description below now before we dive into any other books I want to take a moment and tell you that every book that we talk about today is available in the link down in the description below go check them out I highly recommend even just pulling it up on Audible because it is so important now that being said let's get to book number two this one I don't see on anybody's list so book number two is called outliers the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell now there are five things that I love about this book the first being how it explores various factors that come to high level success above individual Merit and effort the second one is that it challenges the concept of self-made success highlighting the importance of context and timing and the environment third this is where the concept of the 10,000 hour rule actually comes from and if you don't know about 10,000 hours well this is the book that invented the concept and you really really owe it to yourself to know what that means for you and what I love is that it is so commonly like almost categorically a key ingredient to world class expertise side note here for a lot of the folks that have been running Facebook ads or they're on their second or third business or people that start a new business every few months they might have a lot to share but folks like me that have been in the game for 10 11 12 15 20 years I've put in my 10,000 hours side note for the folks that have been hustling the grind for the last year or two and really seeing some success that's amazing but part of 10,000 hours isn't just putting in the hours and by the way 10,000 hours is 8 hours a day for 1,50 days that's basically over 3 years of every single day putting in 8 hours and when you read the 10,000 hours it's not about to showing up it's about the challenging of yourself to be uncomfortable and to expand and to ultimately disrupt the norm to learn things that other people just don't know check out this book it fundamentally changed my approach to how I addressed problem solving and Business Development the next thing that I love about this book is point number four about how examines real world case studies of tech billionaires and musicians and artists and all sorts of folks through all facets of life to show how these lessons actually apply to basically everybody everywhere and this really interesting Tipping Point by the way Tipping Point is another really great Malcolm Gladwell book but I didn't put it on here because I think that's far more applicable to operators and to investment bankers than it is to marketers because the way that it makes you think is not as much about growth and is more about understanding when to go all in um more on that in another video I'm sure the fifth thing that I love about this book is it encourages a broader view of success how many times have you seen me say your definition of success is what's holding you back that's a lesson that I learned from Malcolm Gladwell we cannot underemphasize the roles of culture and luck and opportunity when it comes to achieving far more than we thought we could and getting closer to what we deserve so what is the importance of outliers for marketers it reinforces the understanding of Market timing and opportunity and if you're not incorporating market trends and consumer psychology into your advertising you are missing the boat you are working so much harder than you should to achieve so much less than you really could so let's get to the importance for business operators my favorite part is how it highlights the need for recognizing and optimizing external factors that drive business success this book better than really anything else I've ever seen put into print inspires entrepreneurs or at least me to consider their unique advantages and the significance of timing and positioning in their Ventures side note I'm a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell I think that's probably the only author I've literally read everything that they've ever written well him and the guy we're going to feature right after this I have a 100% read on everything that they've printed because of just how valuable all of it is and this next one this next one is something that I guarantee you nobody else is going to tell you all right quick break right before we hop into this third book because it is seriously one of my favorites and was like a pocket guide Bible when I was getting started I want to point out one thing right here boom that is the QR code for the Facebook ads NBA program more success and less stress your handheld guide step by step to what you deserve hundreds of people gone through it nobody's asked for a refund I can't get you anything better than that that being said let's get into it cuz this third book this is a cheat code I think I've literally given away seven or eight copies of this book I have two or three of them sitting in my house right now with furious scribbled notes inside of it like a serial killer this one no one no one is talking about welcome to the music business you're [ __ ] by Martin Atkins the first thing I love about this book is its brutally honest look at the challenges that you can face in the music business and all other creative facets and the honest truth is this applies to basically everything when you have to vouch for yourself if you are not working in a day job you can take these lessons and apply it to every facet of Life the second thing I love about this is it provides real world advice for navigating things like contracts and rights and promotions understanding what are the nuances behind all of the things that start to require big money and especially when lawyers get involved the third part about this book that I love maybe more than anything is the emphasis on the importance of innovation and adaptability in rapidly changing markets number four which again you would probably never expect in a book that has like cartoon drawings in it and is like this thick and can be read probably in 30 minutes is the value and the Practical tips that it shares when it comes to building a brand and when it comes to networking and when it comes to monetizing creativity some of the best lessons I've ever learned about how to monetize yourself and build something better than you and bigger than you and talk about more than just what the thing is comes from this book and the fifth thing is how it highlights the undying perseverance that it takes to be successful in a highly competitive market the honest truth is I don't know a single entrepreneur that is making an eight-figure business or a ninef fig business that isn't infatuated with their own efforts and obsessed in a way that makes other people feel uncomfortable most of the folks I know that play this game are going to tell you this that their friends say that they're Workaholics and the vast majority of them that I know would say well I haven't worked in years what I do for fun is what I do every day like I can talk to them about myself I quit my last day job years ago and I've been earning more and more money every single year because I get to spend my time doing the things that I enjoy every single day I solve the puzzles that are important to me I get to play the games that I enjoy playing and by that I mean I get to work on the big picture and by that I mean I get to work on the big picture stuff that makes real world changes some folks love Call of Duty some folks like Facebook ads manager but when you play the game right instead of getting gold stars instead of getting a record that's up on the arcade machine you change the well-being of the lives of people that you might never meet for the better and that's one thing that takes disruptor school and makes it dramatically different from 99% of the other coaching and agency stuff that you see out there in the world because we actually give a [ __ ] about your bottom line cuz it comes from my interest to create good in the world as a former drug addict that's just trying to make amends on a daily basis I was shooting heroin I've been clean for over 10 years now I'm trying to make the world a better place and one of the reasons that people find me so disruptive is cuz I'm actually way more honest and more experienced and also my kung fu is stronger than most of the people that do this for a living and it is just because I was in the right place at the right time with the right level of like some might say mental illness and had the background and a little bit of the tenacity and the desperation that was required 12 years ago when I got started in digital marketing professionally and for the decade before that I had been doing it so that I could go out on the road as a heroin addict punk rocker musician and come back with money and also not die there's a thing that entrepreneurs have and you either have it or you don't and the honest truth is if you're this far in this video I proom I'm willing to bet that you have it otherwise you wouldn't care enough to listen to book number four before we get there let me talk about why this book is so important for marketers for business owners and for entrepreneurs because it showcases the power of creativity and adaptability in marketing which is critical for standing out in competitive Industries Why is this book important for business operators because it offers lessons on the importance of the legal and financial impacts of your decision making above and beyond just what money you made today and what's the importance for entrepreneurs and honestly this is the one that hits me in the heart like it gets me in the feels more than anything else I think we've really covered today it provides a real world perspective on the grit and resilience that is required and a little bit of the crazy that you need to turn passions into successful Enterprises and the fourth book which I don't see on a lot of lists but absolutely absolutely should be and I think there is an entire new generation of folks where this is maybe their first like real business book this is the textbook that saved them from having to go to college and they were able to build seven eight nine figure businesses the $100 million offer by Alex Heros I love that it focuses on the art of creating irresistible offers that significantly increase customer value I love how it emphasizes tailoring your offers and knowing your target audience I love how it teaches how to understand your audience so deeply that you can create offers that they cannot resist the honest truth is I see far too many people thinking they're clever with something that works for them but nobody else cares you have to know who you're selling to and you can build a business around that or it can be a salesperson slinging a whole bunch of things people just don't care it emphasizes the importance of Simplicity Clarity and specificity in offer creation one of my favorite ways of doing this is to say if you can't put it on this sticky note so that a 5-year-old understands what's happening or to quote Martin Atkins from Welcome to the music business you're [ __ ] if it doesn't work as a chorus in a song If it can't fit on a t-shirt I don't care the fourth thing that I love about the $100 million offers book from Alex josi is that it provides real world strategies for pricing bundling and positioning offers for Maximum Impact and the fifth thing is the cheat codes that he gives away my favorite is how he shares how to refine customer feedback and data to improve your offer and grow your business so the importance of the $100 million offers book for marketer is that it highlights the critical role of offer Construction in your marketing to ensure that your products and services are compelling to your audience also I think most marketers completely miss the next two points very few marketers actually give a [ __ ] about the second sale if you ever ever see people talking about their cost caps their Advantage Plus and how effectively they're getting their CPA lower to get the highest profit margin on every single product they have they're fundamentally missing this single truth the money is made on the second purchase not the first when it comes for the importance for entrepreneurs the $100 million offer book it encourages a focus on value creation and differentiation as key strategies for competitive advantage and scalability I think one of the simplest and most impactful lessons that the $100 million offers book offers that most people that I see flexing on the internet about how great they are at running ads is the lack of Simplicity Clarity and Singularity to the F room the inflection point of their business when you see people say we're going to run ads on everything that makes money what they're telling you is we're not going to do anything well we're not going to put all of our efforts into the thing that's most valuable we're going to make a concerted effort to make sure that we are not leveraging the most powerful inflection point in the business we're going to work harder to make success more difficult in a way that is less sticky to ultimately make less money that is one of the biggest gaps that we see and one thing that this channel is all about for marketers they offer strategies to connect with and engage with customers more effectively for operators they shed on the importance of systems legalities and the innovation in day-to-day operations and for entrepreneurs again again that's where I think probably I sit they inspire a mindset of resilience strategic thinking and the Relentless pursuit of value creation reading these books can transform not just your approach to business but your approach to challenges and opportunities in any industry and in the rest of your life I started this video by saying there are a million books that you could read and there are plenty of people that will Flex on being able to read a new book every single week I challenge you to spend one week reading each of these books and when you're done start over do that 13 times this year and you're going to be in a much better place instead of treating books that you've read as trophies on your mantle use them as ways to level up your ID level up the way that you think most people say well college is a complete waste of time and for most people if they say that it probably would have been but I have three college degrees and one of the things that I got in college that I would never get anywhere else is the education on how to think and most importantly the experience of being able to problem solve and correlate real world practices to money to individual operations and how everything fits together the connected tissue it's not just what's in the book but it's around challenging yourself to be uncomfortable and to own knowledge to the place where you can do what I pride myself on doing on a consistent basis or at least I think I do which is generating knowledge and contributing it back into the world I'm 40 years old like I'm 40 I have Decades of experience for most people running Facebook ads the day they got started to today if you add up all the money that they've spent all their wins and their losses odds are by the time they got started I was already two to three times further along than they are now this isn't a flex I was of the right age in the right place at the right time in the right person with the right like head on my shoulders and all sorts of other stuff the point is I get called out all the time for being like Oh it's a no- ad- all trying to shoot down all this stuff if you understand something and can help other people if you know that slamming your car into a brick wall is going to hurt and you tell somebody hey don't do that it doesn't make you an [ __ ] it doesn't mean that you're a know- it- all if you're sharing your experience so that people can learn from your experience your strength and you can offer them hope then that is something that you should be doing I'm dedicating my time and I am finding tremendous personal value from helping people avoid the hundreds of millions of dollars of mistakes that I built my career on learning from once again thank you to Dandy delmare for the lovely outfit here this is a nice little like drab green you've probably seen the last two videos I posted I was in a like a black version of this and uh I'm a huge fan of their goucho set like I've just I think I have one of every shirt that they make for men that's like in Terry or in this like waffle love them um one thing I would love tell me down below a book that I didn't say tell me down below a brand that you love as much as I love dandy let's give each other some shoutouts let's exchange in ideas let's share things with each other cuz gatekeeping is the action of the insecure hell a couple videos ago I quite literally showed you my personal p&l that I sent off to my account to file my taxes it is uncomfortable and brutal honesty and transparency that I legitimately think is going to help take disruptor school from a seven figure business to an 8figure business to a 9 figure business that will fundamentally change the world cuz I'm already seeing it happen WR by the dozens every month and the hundreds every year and once again if you want to get in on what we're doing here there's the QR code for the Facebook ads NBA program at disr school we have a lot of ebooks we have a lot of master classes a lot of things but if you want the cheat code there's literally no better way that you can spend your time and money than joining that and with that being said my little girl down here is apparently still sleeping and uh we're matching today in green so I'm going to go enjoy some time enjoying my life and I encourage you to do the same and um fun fact that Martin Atkins book is free just ask Martin for it he'll like I've seen him fax it to people because they've asked one of the lessons that I learned about giving away everything comes from Martin and yes for those of you that like that name sounds familiar he's the drummer for Public Image Limited and Ministry and 9in Nails uh he has a recording studio and a record label out of Chicago he's a g and one of the nicest guys I've ever met well that being said I'll see you on the internet thank you so much goodbye