8 books for the budding wbo {woman business owner}

Are you interested in finding out if you have what it takes to start a business? Maybe you are a rookie business owner looking for answers.. Or maybe, you’ve been in business for awhile & things have become a little stale. A trip back to the basics, to look at your business through fresh eyes, may be just what the doctor ordered. This list of books is for women who are thinking of starting their own business, those who have started businesses recently, or those who have had a business for awhile & want to freshen it up a bit.

I also did a bit of research and found the sites/blogs that go along with these books. I’ve listed those websites along with the books, because I found them to be valuable (& free) resources.

1. The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube by Michelle Goodman *k

Michelle Goodman left the cubicle life in 1992. After 15 years of freelancing, she wrote this book to help those who are sick of working in cubicles (and perhaps developing claustrophobia) to find alternative, flexible, “I don’t have a boss” “I am my own boss” ways of making some moo-lah.

Michelle’s Blog: The Anti 9-to-5 Guide

2. The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business by Lauren Bacon & Emira Mears *k

Lauren & Emira own a web design company in Vancouver, & they wrote this book for the upcoming generation of indie business owners. It’s what they wish they would have had when they started. It covers each step from turning your hobby into the business you’ve always dreamed about, and is geared toward young women & stay-at-home mom’s.

Lauren & Emira’s blog: The Boss of You

3. My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman *k

Michelle Goodman focuses on tips, advice, how-to’s & more for a woman to pursue a freelance career. This books is also targeted toward young women & new mom’s. Michelle touches on various topics like how to negotiate your hourly rate & how to handle a missed deadline with grace.

4. 16 Weeks to Your Dream Business: A Weekly Planner for Entrepreneurial Women by Nada Jones & Michelle Briody *k

This book walks you through the steps of building your business, while keeping track of your progress.

Book’s website: nedandshell

Nada’s blog: ltd365 living the dream everyday

5. Birthing the Elephant: The Woman’s Go-For-It! Guide to Overcoming the Big Challenges of Launching a Business by Karin Abarbanel & Bruce Freeman

Out of all the books on this list, this book has the most customer reviews (and the most five star reviews). The names of the women featured in the book, and those that recommend it, are very successful businesswomen (like Jessica McClintock, Bobbi Brown, Liz Lange, Alexandria Brown, etc.). This book focuses on the feelings at each stage of business & how to cope with them.

Unfortunately, the website I found for this book does not seem to stack up to the book (looks like it needs some TLC). At the bottom of the page promoting the book, there’s a link for a free sign-up to join the newsletter and receive the free smart startup kit (which says it includes 3 Big Start-up Mistakes & How to Avoid Them Report, Launch Road map, & Ace Your Start-up ezine). However, when I tried to sign-up, I received an error message. There is a blog connected to that site, but not very many posts. There is some great information scattered throughout the site, like the “Ask” Columns and Case Studies, but my design eyes could only look at the site for so long.

6. The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur by Caitlin Friedman & Kimberly Yorio

This book is a great guide for starting any business. It’s not industry specific, yet lends advice regarding various industries that assist you with your business startup (like advice on logos to being a boss to choosing an attorney). There’s even a chapter on “Acting Like an Adult: Finding your Voice and Professional Style”.

I did find a blog for this book, but the most recent blog post was more than 9 months ago.

Read my review of this book.

7. The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million-Dollar Business by Susan Wilson Solovic *k

This book may not be for the beginner. There’s a lot to starting a business, and this book may just make that process more complicated for you in the beginning. If you do decide to read this book, you will probably want to read one of the books listed above, first. This book will help you realize that a million-dollar businesswoman looks just like you & me. And it will help you layout plans for your business to take it to that elite million-dollar level.

Susan’s Blog: Susan Solovic Online

8. The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels by Elizabeth Gordon with Leanna Adams

This book is more geared toward businesses that are running a bit stagnant. This book is great for helping you get your business out of the ditch, and geared into overdrive.

Although I couldn’t find a blog associated with this book, you can sign-up for the free newsletter at the blog’s website & receive Elizabeth Gordon’s free ebook titled “The Seven Secrets of My Success”. And, there’s also a Facebook page for The Chic Entrepreneur.

Book’s Website: The Chic Entrepreneur

*A little disclosure… I have not read all the books on this list. I did read their descriptions, sample pages, reviews & visit their correlating websites. I found all of these books intriguing & I do plan on reading all of these books; a detailed review of each one will then be posted here at a daily dose of sugar. For the books that have correlating websites/blogs, I have been very pleased by the content found on them (unless otherwise noted above). That being said, I feel confident recommending these books to you. Plus, all of these books have received superb reviews on Amazon. I am currently reading The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business. I’m about half-way through it, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far. {Update: I’ve finished this book & you can read my review here.}