8 Essential Business Books for Every Coworking Space Member
No matter your professional situation or what business you’re in, there’s one universal truth: one of the best ways to become better at your job is to stay curious and consume knowledge at every opportunity.
And for coworking members — entrepreneurs, solo professionals, remote leaders, and satellite team members — this holds especially true. Working away from traditional office environments puts an even greater emphasis on the value of proactive learning.
That’s why we’ve compiled a list of eight essential business books that every coworking space member should have in their library.
Business Books for Entrepreneurs and Solo Pros
Being an entrepreneur or a solo professional isn’t easy. It means forging your own path and making your own way in the business world.
So, having resources that can give you insights, ideas, and inspiration is an important part of that journey.
Here are three books every entrepreneur and solo professional should read.
Brave, Not Perfect: Fear Less, Fail More, and Live Bolder by Reshma Saujani
For entrepreneurs who’ve made the choice to make their own way, the idea of going against the grain is deeply rooted in them.
In her book, Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, will inspire you to challenge your limiting beliefs.
She argues that most little girls are expected to pursue the sure path rather than take risks. By unearthing the power of failure instead, they can use life’s inevitable flops as paths to self-discovery and achievement — an inspiring lesson for all entrepreneurs.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
There’s no roadmap to success as an entrepreneur or solo professional. And it isn’t always easy identifying the right direction by yourself.
That’s why this book is a classic and an absolute must-read for entrepreneurs and solo professionals.
In it, Covey outlines a habit-based approach for finding and sticking to your “true north” in order to attain your goals.
His approach consists of seven main steps:
- Be proactive
- Begin with the end in mind
- Put first things first
- Think win-win
- Seek first to understand, then to be understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the saw
Tribes by Seth Godin
Have you heard of marketing guru Seth Godin? If not, you’re in for a treat.
In his book, Tribes, Godin explores why community is so important to humans — and to brands, by extension. He theorizes that it’s human nature to organize around tribes because we’ve done it since the beginning of time. And the book explains how to find opportunities to cultivate that sense of community around your business.
In today’s digital world, building and engaging with a community is one of the most cost-effective ways to market yourself, making this book a must-read for entrepreneurs and solos pros.
Business Books for Remote Leaders
There’s been a drastic increase in remote employment in recent years — especially since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
For many business leaders, managing a team remotely has been something they’ve been working to perfect for quite some time. For others, it’s a new and unexpected challenge they’ve been faced with on account of the pandemic.
In any case, many coworking members are in a remote leadership role. And whether it’s a new task or one you’ve been working on getting right for a while, here are three books that can help you achieve it.
Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Hanson
As you probably guessed by the name, this book is completely focused on showing employers and employees how teams can (and should) work together from anywhere in the world.
This book offers in-depth lessons learned from the authors’ experiences running their business remotely. It also covers the benefits and challenges of remote work, debunks common arguments against it, and provides tips and recommended tools to help both managers and employees collaborate successfully.
Your Brain at Work by David Rock
This book is all about overcoming distraction, regaining focus, and working smarter. And without the strict parameters of a traditional office environment, distraction can be a productivity killer.
Rock, a leadership coach, wrote the book to help readers understand how their brains function and then apply that knowledge to improve their focus and productivity at work.
To bring these lessons to life, he uses two fictional characters — Emily, a VP of marketing at a large company, and Paul, who works from home as an IT consultant — as they juggle their personal and professional responsibilities.
Free Bonus: The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work from Zapier
If you simply can’t wait and you want something you can read for free right now, you’ll love this.
This free eBook from Zapier is available to consume online and it details much of the company’s own experience in starting, running, and managing a distributed team.
This guide started as a post on Zapier’s blog, with much of the content being written by co-founder Wade Foster. Eventually, other team members began contributing and now, it’s a living, breathing document which is updated on an ongoing basis with new insights, ideas, and lessons.
Business Books for Remote Employees and Satellite Teams
The same way many leaders have been going remote, many employees and teams have been doing the same.
Whether it’s individual employees being hired by out-of-town businesses or entire teams working remotely as part of a greater organization, coworking spaces are home to a diverse array of remote professionals.
If this sounds like you, check out these great reads.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport
Employees in every work scenario are plagued by distractions in today’s professional landscape — from email to social media and phone apps. This is especially true for remote employees.
In this book, Newport presents four rules for cultivating “deep work” — the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task:
- Rule 1: Work deeply
- Rule 2: Embrace boredom
- Rule 3: Quit social media
- Rule 4: Drain the shallows
The skill of deep work allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time.
For a little more insight on Newport and what he’s all about, check out his TED Talk on why you should quit social media.
Working Remotely: Secrets to Success for Employees on Distributed Teams by Teresa Douglas, Holly Gordon, and Mike Webber
For many employees these days, the world is now your office. This means that you can work from anywhere. But how do you keep on task and stay motivated when you’re alone?
In Working Remotely, authors Mike, Holly, and Teresa discuss how to ward off toxic levels of loneliness, how to get what you need from colleagues spread across the world, and how to network and grow in your career when you are sitting in an office of one, plus many other topics that will help you survive and thrive as a remote worker.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur or solo professional, a remote leader, a member of a satellite team, or a remote employee, building your knowledge and expertise is critical to success. So, if these books aren’t already on your reading list, we’d consider adding them.
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