Keys to Your Startup’s Success-Don’t Just Read Every Book
Not every book for entrepreneurs is going to help you with your startup
--
According to Google, there are approximately 130 million unique books in the world.
“The year 2010 had more than 2.7 million “non-traditional” titles published, including “self-published books, reprints of public domain works, and other print-on-demand books.” Also, hundreds of thousands of English Language books are published each year outside the U.S.”
As you can see, there are tons of books. Tons of books on personal growth. On software development. On parenting. Books on being an entrepreneur. Is the course of wisdom to read as many books as possible? Should you devote yourself to constant reading, believing that this will make you successful? I in no way want to discourage you from reading. Reading is essential to gaining more knowledge. But there can be a danger to all this literary input. What is that danger?
Not every book contains truth. Some books are based upon opinion. And some books were written with the sole goal of making money, not providing true and helpful information. You must learn to distinguish between a book that contains truthful, beneficial information, and one that doesn’t. How can you do this? How can you tell if a book is going to provide you with the help you need in your startup?
#1 — Is the book filled with examples?
Anyone can make a claim. And it can be very tempting to believe a claim is true. Especially if that claim appeals to something that we want to believe. Claims like, “How to get a 6-pack in 6 days.” “How to sell your startup idea for $1 million.” “How I made $10,000 my 1st-month blogging.” Many times these types of articles do very well. Why? Because people want to believe all these claims. They want to believe they can have a 6-pack in 6 days. They want to believe that without the vigorous, intense work, they can sell an idea for $1 million. They want to…
