Recommended Reading List
Below is a list of recommended reading. These books are the best of the best. Some of the books offer solid franchise information while others offer more generalized advice in regard to business ownership and the secrets of success.
As you build your library of franchise resources, please consider adding a few of these books to your collection. Some of these franchise resources do not provide direct franchise information; instead they provide information on how to be successful or how to prepare yourself for success. These books are valuable franchise resources, as you will discover in your reading.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki
Rich Dad, Poor Dad chronicles the story of the authors two dads, his own father, who was the superintendent of education in Hawaii and who ended up dying penniless and his best friend’s father who dropped out of school at age 13 and went on to become one of the wealthiest men in Hawaii. Kiyosaki uses the story of these two men and their varying financial strategies to illustrate the need for a new financial paradigm in order to achieve financial success in the new millennium.
Cashflow Quadrant – Robert Kiyosaki
The Cash Flow Quadrant takes the excellent thinking in Rich Dad, Poor Dad and builds to another level of detail. The definitions of these four quadrants are important. As an employee, you have a job. As a self-employed person, you own a job. As a business owner you have a system (such as a franchise like McDonald’s) that produces cash flow for you and others work for you. As an investor, your money works for you. Rich people are getting more than 70% of their cash flow and income by having money work for them.
Loopholes of the Rich – Diane Kennedy
Taxes are the single biggest expense for the average American today. In fact, small changes in the amount of taxes you pay can lead to big changes in you and your family’s quality of life. This newly revised edition of Loopholes of the Rich covers all the most effective and legal tax strategies—and loopholes just like the rich use—so that people from every tax bracket can pay less and keep more of what they earn.
The E Myth Revisited – Michael Gerber
The E-Myth dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. Michael Gerber walks you through the steps in the life of a business from entrepreneurial infancy, through adolescent growing pains, to the mature entrepreneurial perspective, the guiding light of all businesses that succeed. He then shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business whether or not it is a franchise. Finally, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.
Working Identity – Herminia Ibarra
In this powerful book, Herminia Ibarra presents a new model for career reinvention that flies in the face of everything we’ve learned from “career experts.” While common wisdom holds that we must first know what we want to do before we can act, Ibarra argues that this advice is backward. Knowing, she says, is the result of doing and experimenting. Career transition is not a straight path toward some predetermined identity, but a crooked journey along which we try on a host of “possible selves” we might become.
Millionaire Next Door – Thomas Stanley
How can you join the ranks of America’s wealthy (defined as people whose net worth is over $1 million)? It’s easy, say doctors Stanley and Danko, who have spent the last 20 years interviewing members of this elite club: you just have to follow seven simple rules. The first rule is, always live well below your means. The last rule is, choose your occupation wisely. You’ll have to buy the book to find out the other five. It’s only fair. The authors’ conclusions are commonsensical. But, as they point out, their prescription often flies in the face of what we think wealthy people should do. There are no pop stars or athletes in this book, but plenty of wallboard manufacturers–particularly ones who take cheap, infrequent vacations. Stanley and Danko mercilessly show how wealth takes sacrifice, discipline, and hard work, qualities that are positively discouraged by our high-consumption society. “You aren’t what you drive,” admonish the authors. Somewhere, Benjamin Franklin is smiling.
Millionaire Mind – Thomas Stanley
The Millionaire Mind spent over four months on the New York Times best-seller list, rising to position #2, and has sold over half a million copies. Here is Stanley’s second groundbreaking study of America’s wealthy. The Millionaire Mind targets a population of millionaires who have accumulated substantial wealth and live in ways that openly demonstrate their affluence. Exploring the ideas, beliefs, and behaviors that enabled these millionaires to build and maintain their fortunes, Dr. Stanley provides a fascinating look at who America’s financial elite are and how they got there.
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
A must for anyone wanting to improve their lives and their positive thinking. There have been more millionaires and indeed, billionaires, who have made their fortunes as a result of reading this success classic than any other book every printed. NAPOLEON HILLS’s “Think and Grow Rich” is the authors most famous work. This is the COMPLETE Reference Book. A true masterpiece with the fundamentals of the Success philosophy.
Failing Forward – John Maxwell
In Failing Forward, John Maxwell offers advice for turning the difficulties that inevitably arise in life into stepping stones that help you reach the top. Noting that star performers are often those who aggressively push forward after encountering adversity, Maxwell shows how a variety of well-known and not-so-well-known people have forged ahead despite obstacles that could have derailed them. The major difference between achieving people and average people is their perception of and response to failure. John C. Maxwell covers the top reasons people fail and shows how to master fear instead of being mastered by it.
The Magic of Choosing Uncertainty -Tom Scarda
Are you facing a change in your life? Are you stuck making a big life decision or even small, everyday decisions? Are you at a crossroads in your career, your relationship or your life? If you’re experiencing a midlife awakening, this book will help you navigate the unchartered territory that you are likely to encounter. Contained in this book are some secrets, tips and exercises to help you control the course of your life’s situations. Don’t get stuck at the crossroads of Uncertainty and Unhappiness. Take control now!
Find Your Courage – Margie Warrell
Warrell’s “12 Acts of Courage” challenges you to rethink your “life scripts,” overcome everyday fears, and dream bigger. Each chapter includes proven strategies and “Courage Exercises” to help you harness their inner strength and make meaningful changes in your personal and professional lives.
Who Moved My Cheese – Spencer Johnson
This is a brief tale of two mice and two humans who live in a maze and one day are faced with change: someone moves their cheese. Reactions vary from quick adjustment to waiting for the situation to change by itself to suit their needs. This story is about adjusting attitudes toward change in life, especially at work. Change occurs whether a person is ready or not, but the author affirms that it can be positive. His principles are to anticipate change, let go of the old, and do what you would do if you were not afraid.
Street Smart Franchising – Joe Mathews
Prepping you for what it takes to succeed in franchising, franchise experts Joe Mathews, Don DeBolt and Deb Percival deliver an insider’s view of how franchising works, imparting real-world tactics and strategies, and empowering you to decide if franchising is for you.