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- 011 - The books that changed my solopreneurship journey
011 - The books that changed my solopreneurship journey
Books to help you on your solopreneurship journey + free Notion template
Julia Pagani
02 Oct • Read in just 12 minutes
I'm an avid, obsessed reader for everything in between romance, fantasy, fiction, and non fiction. I've recently purchased a Kindle which means now I have thousand books in a small, pocket book size device.
I'm also a solopreneur that likes to travel every 3 months and so, which means I don't carry physical books with me, as well as I read things related to entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, mindset, spirituality...
I'm also the kind of person that will have more books to read than time, and honestly, I love having the choice of what to read next.
The list below is a compilation of books that I often refer back to, that have had some kind of impact in my life, and that will most likely add value to you too.
Then, I will share with you my book tracking template, which I use it myself to decide what I will read and when.
Essential Prosperity: The Fourteen Most Important Books on Wealth and Riches Ever Written
 | “Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstances. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.” As A Man Thinketh — James Allen |
A collection of short and regular books that comprise important wealth and power related books. I have read some of the books contained in this compilation, such as:
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell
And frankly, if you read just these from the compilation you'd be set. I'm still reading this compilation, so let's see if I will amend this post.
The Kybalion
 | “Do not make the mistake of supposing that the little world you see around you - the Earth, which is a mere grain of dust in the Universe - is the Universe itself. There are millions upon millions of such worlds, and greater. And there are millions of millions of such Universes in existence within the Infinite Mind of THE ALL” The Kybalion — The Three Initiates |
I'm not a religious person, but I do believe in the Universe (as an entity, in this case), or something that "controls", or "holds" everything that happens. From there, I can draw faith, direction, wisdom and strength when I need it.
A lot of books you've probably heard of use the 7 laws of the Universe described in the Kybalion. From stoic classics, such as Meditations from Marcus Aurelius, to the books I mentioned previously.
After reading the Kybalion — which is quite a tough read and I suggest you use AI to assist you in distilling the knowledge — I see the hermetic foundations in the speech of successful people, classic books like I said, music, and in the nature around me, and even in the foundations of religion.
Since the Kybalion is not easy to digest or even to read, it will also have a greater impact in your life. If you're able to extract the learnings from it beyond what people use it for, which is the law of attraction (which is how I found out about it), you will see yourself, the world, your goals in a totally different life.
I actually believe that most hyped books have something borrowed from the Laws described in the book. Tap in the source, if you have the courage.
Launch!
 | “At its heart, Product Launch Formula is made up of sequences, stories, and triggers.” Launch! — Jeff Walker |
Jeff Walker's Launch is a book that I got into because of the digital market wave in Brazil. The author will teach you the basics of launching in 7 days of sequential action.
I've used the principles of Launch! (which I learned from mentors in Brazil, originally) successfully even outside the digital market scope. In fact, Launching is not anything new, but adapted, so it only makes sense that it would work for different product types. As long as you understand of strategy, launching shouldn't be a problem.
Discipline Equals Freedom
 | “Humans can withstand almost inconceivable stress—and you can too. So that is your first step: Gain perspective. And to do that you must do something critical in many situations: Detach. Whatever problems or stress you are experiencing, detach from them. Stress is generally caused by what you can’t control.” Discipline Equals Freedom — Jocko Willink |
I started following Jocko Willink when he had 70k followers, years ago. As soon as launched DEF, I bought and read and I felt the machinery in my head click back in place.
Even if you're not leading a team (which I am, in another business), you will find this book plentiful just to deal with people in general. Whether they work for you or are partners or people you need to "deal with".
An invaluable read for anyone that wants to lead a tribe as well, to guide people is to be able to build upon leadership.
Expert Secrets
 | “I realized that our only real goal in any of our marketing is to identify the false beliefs and false stories our customers are telling themselves—the ones that are keeping them from success—and to rewrite these stories inside their minds.” Expert Secrets — Russell Brunson |
Very much in the same lines as Launch, these two books are great paired together if you want to make an impact in the world of online sales.
Russel Brunson uses a lot of the same strategies as Jeff Walker — these things are quite evergreen, really — but in his own words and his own strategic style.
It's invaluable for you to learn different strategies and test them, which is what these two books will help you with.
Sapiens
 | “Evolution has made Homo sapiens, like other social mammals, a xenophobic creature. Sapiens instinctively divide humanity into two parts, ‘we’ and ‘they’.” Sapiens — Yuval Noah Harari |
To build for people without understanding them is idiocy and even quite egotistical. I urge you to study about people as much as you can, from behavioral science to pyschology. Read everything you can as much as you can in these topics.
To start with, I'd go with Sapiens, so you can understand the evolution in humanity and how that has affect our current behavior, as a prologue to more information.
Behave
 | “...dopamine is not about the happiness of reward. It's about the happiness of pursuit of reward that has a decent chance of occurring.” Behave — Robert Sapolsky |
The kind of human behavioral science, for me, is Robert Sapolsky. To pair with Sapiens, read all the books by thins man starting from Behave.
You will start to getting a grasp of human behaviour and be able to put down your own strategies, if you do read all the books in this list.
Obstacle is the way
 | “Where the head goes, the body follows. Perception precedes action. Right action follows the right perspective.” Obstacle is the way — Ryan Holiday |
Anything by Ryan Holiday will not disappoint, and Obstacle is the way one of these books that you just read and reread.
I remember reading this years ago and I still come back to the highlights to consult it now and then. This book will offer a mindset shift for you in a language that is simple and pleasant to read, without making you feel like you're the problem (even though we know we are).
101 essays that will change the way you think
 | “Everything is hard in some way. It’s hard to be in the wrong relationship. It’s hard to be in the right one. It’s hard to be broke and miserable, it’s hard to achieve your dreams. It’s hard to be stuck in the middle, not really feeling anything at all. Everything is hard, but you choose your hard. You choose what’s worth it. You don’t choose whether or not you’ll suffer, but you do choose what you want to suffer for.” 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think — Brianna Wiest |
In the same lines as the Obstacle is the way, this book will be a friend that sometimes we don't have in the lonely journey of solopreneurship.
Read, make notes, and reflect on the essays on this book by Brianna Wiest.
Antifragile
 | “If you have more than one reason to do something (choose a doctor or veterinarian, hire a gardener or an employee, marry a person, go on a trip), just don’t do it. It does not mean that one reason is better than two, just that by invoking more than one reason you are trying to convince yourself to do something. Obvious decisions (robust to error) require no more than a single reason.” Antifragile — Nassim Nicholas Taleb |
I always struggled socially with my mindset. I've always a "hunter" attitude, as in, nothing could stop nor break me. I didn't really care if something didn't work, I only kept going and keep doing what I thought I had — without hurting anyone, of course, at least not intentionally.
In our entrepreneurship journey, saying no is a skill that will help you say yes to what makes sense to you, to your spiritual calling and your ambitions. This often leads to things that won't workout, and to help with overcoming this moments, you will need an antifragile mindset.
This book will teach you exactly this, and it was quite heartening for me to read in plain words that I wasn't crazy nor a heartless b, I was just antifragile.
Free Notion template to help you track your book reading
Lastly, you want to be able to track your reading habits, don't you? Well, here it is a templated, pre loaded with some 100 books to help you get started.
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