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Being an entrepreneur is a difficult task. What books helped you get motivated and keep going?

For me it was:

  • Founders At Work
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4  
I think, it should be community wiki – rem Oct 3 '10 at 12:55
Yeah, CW would be nice. Also, a "one book per answer" rule would make the votes much more meaningful. – Jonik Oct 3 '10 at 18:54

11 Answers

  • Rework — 37signals
  • Crush It! (http://crushitbook.com/) — Gary Vaynerchuk
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There are lots of helpful and motivating books, but here it is some of the free, nice stuff one can read online:

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Getting Real is a great book and available free online
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php

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The four hour work week inspires me. Only the title though. I didn't find time to read it, but I look at the cover once in a while.

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4  
It is a useless book. – TimJ Oct 3 '10 at 16:32
1  
Perhaps. Except for the title. – FeatureCreep Oct 3 '10 at 20:20
Actually I found this book useful, it gave some insights and ideas on approaching virtual assistants and how to use these type of services to give more time to yourself to do the "important" stuff. – Ricardo Oct 4 '10 at 19:07
OK Ricardo - that information (virtual assistants) was about the only REAL world example of good information. – TimJ Oct 6 '10 at 16:02

I second all of the books mentioned above, one of my favorites is REWORK, Founders at Work and The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. All of these books are easy to read and there are tons of things to learn from them.

Another of my favorites is Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. It is an excellent book and you'll learn a lot from it.

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"Switch" is a really motivational business book. However, it is more appropriate if you are trying to embrace and welcome the art of CHANGE. -Elle

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+1 Great book - just read it. – Doug Donohoe Apr 26 '11 at 16:17

Atlas Shrugged really made me passionate about creating something I can call my own.

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Honestly, I get my most motivation out of reading about others succeeding.... so for example I loved the new Facebook book, The Age Of Facebook and the new Google book. Reading their stories really moves you.

Ben

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ReWork and Getting Real by 37 Signals Founders on Work by Jessica Livingston Paul Graham's Essays Joel Spolsky's Articles Mastering VC Games by Jeff Bussgang

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Birth of a Salesman by Carson V. Heady - not only the must-own how-to-sell, motivational tool, but it doubles as a fictional story of its fictional author. Only book of its kind. GREAT read.

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I am partial to A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs by Rob Adams. It is all about implementation and execution.

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