The U. S. Chamber of Commerce highly recommends that owners of businesses of any size, from single owner /employee entities to chief executives of global enterprises that employees thousands, should regularly undertake the professional development activity known as reading. In particular, how-to entrepreneurial business books contain a wealth of knowledge and actionable advice that’s supported by the author’s examples of hands-on business leadership experience, along with encouragement and guidance to inspire you. Reading presents opportunities to learn from others’ successes and disappointments; however, in the age of information overload, it can be difficult to make time for reading while simultaneously juggling the demands of operating a business—sometimes on your own.

To make it easier for Freelancers and other business leaders to find books that grab your interest, I’ve curated a list of business reading possibilities. The books have been well-received in the business sector but they are only suggestions, and intended to encourage you to consider subjects that you’d like to explore. Below are recommendations for curating a reading list that will support your knowledge building objectives:

• Choose topics that interest you. You may need to address a challenge for which you’d like to obtain some insight. A subject or author may pique your interest. There are many books to choose from within the business category; the prospect of taking a deep dive into a topic that tempts you will supply ample motivation to start reading.
• Schedule time to read.  Similar to reserving a block of time that will be devoted to an important task, dedicating time for reading reinforces its value. Your reading sessions can be longer or shorter; for instance, you can allot mini-blocks of time to give yourself brief but focused reading sessions at the beginning and end of your day. You can create a reading habit that quickly becomes part of your routine and motivates you to find more books to read.
• Incorporate audiobooks and podcasts. Listening to podcasts and audiobooks allows you to learn while working out, commuting, doing laundry, or tackling other routine tasks.
• Abandon books that aren’t resonating. If the author’s message or writing style leave you flat, move on to one that captures your attention as it provides the lessons you’re looking for.

1. Real Time Leadership (David Noble and Carol Kauffman, February 2023)

The best leaders are able to assess pivotal, potentially game-changing situations when the outcome matters most and respond in the most effective way possible to move forward—or not. Authors David Noble and Carol Kauffman are best-in-class leadership coaches; they advise that the most difficult aspect of leadership occurs when you must control the inevitable high-risk, high stakes challenge. Whether you’re faced with a split-second decision, when your business is reeling, or could be soon, and your mind is racing to determine the best strategy to navigate business-critical long-term circumstances. An effective leader must be able to step up, seize the reins and guide the organization to a successful landing. Noble and Kauffman show you how their innovative leadership development framework trains you to excel at tactics that slow down high-stakes situations before they speed you up and pull you under like a rip tide. Instead, you’ll learn to confront and master the moment, so that you can calmly generate response options and quickly evaluate those options before acting.

2. The Science of Scaling (Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Blake Erickson, July 2025)

Are you generating only modest annual growth in your business, frustrated and wondering why a pathway to scale your entity seems out of reach? Authors Blake Erickson and Dr. Benjamin Hardy deliver the outrageous truth—lackluster growth isn’t just slow, it’s a sign your business is sliding toward stagnation. Research shows that businesses that are unable to scale quickly usually fail. But why? Because most leaders are focused on the wrong priorities, operating from the wrong assumptions and setting the wrong goals.

In The Science of Scaling, organizational psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Blake Erickson, co-founders of Scaling .com, reveal a revolutionary framework that helps companies scale bigger and faster than they ever thought possible. In fact, companies that apply this framework routinely grow 10–100x within just three years.

If you’re satisfied with small wins and incremental gains, this book isn’t for you. But if you’re ready to stop optimizing what shouldn’t exist―and finally build a business that scales―this is your playbook. When you read this book, you’ll experience a paradigm shift that will cause you to change your perspective on how to operate a business entity. You’ll realize that you’ve been playing small and trapped by fear. Now, you’ll finally understand how to scale the right way: with bold, ambitious goals, extreme honesty and the true “focus”― defined as filtering for only the people and paths that align directly with your highest vision.

3. The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers (Rob Fitzpatrick, September 2013)

When you decide to learn something about your customers—what you’re on a mission to figure out what they like and would like to see more of, or get the details of what isn’t working for them and why—the standard advice given to every marketing or sales leader, Freelancer or business owner, is to ask them. Talking to those who buy your services or products is considered a foundational skill of sales and marketing. We all know we’re supposed to do it, but no one wants to admit that it’s not so easy to do it right and make your customer feel comfortable enough to give you the info you need, but it can be all too easy to screw up and say the wrong thing—-or say the right thing in the wrong way.

The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers by Rob Fitzpatrick is a practical guide that helps entrepreneurs navigate the crucial task of talking to customers in order to confirm a business idea, or ask questions about an existing service or product. Fitzpatrick illustrates how sensitive conversations can go wrong and shows you how to keep them on track, so that you’ll get the info that you need to move forward. Now you can reduce the risk of building products nobody wants and make informed decisions based on real customer behavior rather than on polite feedback.

The author is an entrepreneur who co-founded the education agency Founder Centric, taught at top universities including Harvard, MIT and University College of London (UK), co-wrote the book Workshop Survival Guide, which describes how to design and run effective and engaging workshops. He also managed to learn enterprise sales, skill that fuels his current vocation of gathering unbiased customer learning and taking an idea from nothing through to its first dozen or so paying customers.

4. Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean (Karen Berman and Joe Knight, February 2013)

This is an excellent book for anyone who doesn’t have a traditional business administration background. Financial Intelligence is a comprehensive guide that’s meant to help managers at all levels understand the often intimidating world of finance and shows you how to make sense of financial data and use that knowledge to make better decisions and develop more confidence.

One of the best things about the book is how clearly authors Karen Berman and Joe Knight simplify and present complicated financial ideas into terms that are easy to understand and to the point. Even those who have never studied business before can understand the core ideas and use them in real life. Berman and Knight stress how important financial knowledge is for all managers, no matter what area they work in. The fact that financial information can be used in any situation is very interesting. It changes the way we think about financial knowledge so that it is no longer a special skill but a core skill that is essential to good management.  The book isn’t just about figuring out what the numbers mean; it’s also about how to use that knowledge to make good business choices. It is a must-read for any boss who wants to make their company successful financially.

5. Inside the Box (David Epstein, April 2026)

We live in a world that gives us seemingly infinite choices and values freedom above all else. We have an unprecedented number of options regarding what to do, who to be, and how to spend our time. All that choice is wonderful; it is also overwhelming. The irony is that total freedom can be paralyzing, and unlimited resources don’t necessarily lead to the biggest breakthroughs. In fact, overvaluing complete freedom can be disastrous for everything from starting a company to harnessing creativity to finding personal satisfaction.

Author David Epstein argues that all of us—individuals, businesses, institutions, even societies—can benefit from narrowing our options. He dives into the science and practice of constraints, exploring exactly when and how guardrails can be beneficial, whether we’re working with limited resources or using self-imposed boundaries to tap unexpected wells of focus and innovation.

6. Build Your Dream Network (J. Kelly Hoey, January 2018)

Acclaimed business columnist and networking expert J. Kelly Hoey offers a fresh new approach to mastering this timeworn skill in a world where everyone is posting, liking and friending fast and furiously, but are mostly failing to leverage their connections successfully—because they’re not really connections. Hoey’s book presents innovative strategies for developing strong and healthy relationships–the genuine, mutually beneficial, long-lasting kind–by using all of the social tools at your disposal. She also reveals creative and surprisingly simple ways to harness the power of your network to accomplish any ambition, from landing your dream job, to signing a coveted account or client, to successfully crowdfunding a new business venture.

J. Kelly Hoey cuts through the noise of traditional networking and provides strategies for creating authentic, mutually satisfying relationships. She emphasizes that real networking is not about attending dull cocktail parties or gaining a large number of connections online. The book is packed with innovative strategies to help you make the most of both in-person and digital networking opportunities. One of the standout aspects of Build Your Dream Network is its focus on turning “closed-door” conversations into solid business opportunities and personal relationships. Hoey provides advice on how to approach and follow up with contacts in an authentic and strategic way.

 7. Atomic Habits (James Clear, October 2018)

 Are you struggling to build some useful new habits that you will actually incorporate into your life? Atomic Habits by James Clear breaks down the process of developing a useful new habit and serves it up in four simple steps: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy and make it satisfying. If you truly want to live a “successful” life (placed in quotation marks here as success is subjective and its definition is up to you), then you need to put in the time and effort daily to build healthy habits that support your goals and productivity. James Clear shows us that habit-building can be easy and fun. It’s not as boring or arduous as you might think.

No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. 

The book will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits–whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

8. Rework (Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, March 2010)

Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, ad nauseum.
But for many aspiring entrepreneurs, you’ll be better off if you stop talking and start working; authors Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson show you how its done. You’ll learn why a multi-page business plan will not necessarily help your mission, why you probably don’t need outside investors and why you could do better by ignoring the competition.

The truth is, to build a successful business entity, less than can be more. You don’t need to be a workaholic. You don’t always need to hire staff (especially not with artificial intelligence powered tools). You definitely don’t need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don’t even need an office. Those are all just excuses that block you from seizing the moment.

You’ll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank and the value of more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire you. It’s Keep It Simple Strategies make Rework the perfect guide for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of downsizing—Freelancers!—will all find valuable guidance and inspiration in these pages.

9. Future Fit: How to Stay Relevant and Competitive in the Future of Work (Andrea Clarke, March 2019)

The future of work is about talent, not technology, says Andrea Clarke, author of ‘Future Fit: How to Stay Relevant and Competitive in the Future of Work. Clarke points out that if we want to outrun the algorithm to stay secure in the future of work, we need to upgrade our own capability in ways we may not have considered. As artificial intelligence is adopted into the workplace and traditional employee arrangements transform, we’re heading into a far less structured era of work.

For organizations, it means re-imagining talent models, re-skilling the workforce and re-defining business practices for a digital age. For individuals, it means the responsibility for finding, securing and delivering work lies with us more than ever before with the individual. That sounds like the Freelance sector to me! The book will equip you with eight critical human skills we’ll need to invest in for a new working environment. From Reputation Capital, Communication, Adaptability and Creativity to Networking, Leadership, Problem-Solving and Continuous Learning.

10. Start With Yourself (Emma Grede, April 2026)

Start with Yourself is a game-changing, no-nonsense guide for seeking meaningful success on your own terms. It’s an essential framework that will give you the tools and mindset to unlock your full potential in life and business—straight from a woman who defied all the odds to become a serial entrepreneur, most famously as a founding partner of SKIMS with Kim Kardashian and co-founder of Good American, a maker of denim clothing for women, with Khloe Kardashian. Ultimately, this is a book for everyone tired of feeling like a bystander or passenger in your own life. Author Emma Grede offers tangible and applicable-right-now solutions to create a mindset, an overall system of thought to manage emotions, clarify ideas and illuminate the right next step—while always staying positive.

Above all, Grede offers a new vision for work and life that encourages readers everywhere to take responsibility for their own thinking in order to achieve personal and professional success at the highest levels. It’s about gathering yourself after failure. It’s about being accountable but also forgiving yourself. It’s about not expecting shortcuts while never being bashful about grabbing them when they appear. It’s about pushing hard for wins and never apologizing for your dreams.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Walther Firle (Germany, 1859-1929) Three Girls Reading, circa 1900