No matter how much formal education you’ve had in your life, your true education begins when your business begins. There’s nothing like learning on the job to bring you up to speed on your profession, and every education needs a school book, right? It’s so important to continually educate yourself when it comes to your business, so Erin and I keep constant reading lists of books, both fiction and nonfiction, to keep our minds sharp when it comes to marketing, finances, business, and entrepreneurship.

In fact, our goal is to read at least one business book or audiobook every two months – whether or not that actually happens is debatable! BUT, we certainly try because we realize the importance of staying keen, wise, and thinking critically within our business.

Over the past few years we’ve gathered together a list of books that we’ve found to be the most helpful when it comes to running a small photography business, and as we continue to come across more page turners, we’ll continue to add to this list. And, if your favorite business book isn’t on the list – I’d love it if you dropped the title and a little about the book in the comments!

All Marketers are Liars (Seth Godin)

A great discussion on what marketing used to be like and what it is now like. Essentially marketing used to be all about battering your audience with as much information as possible but now it’s all about creating real relationships, fostering trust, and providing value.

Permission Marketing (Seth Godin)

Promise me that you’ll read this before you even think of sending out an e-mail newsletter to your entire address book. This book is a discussion of why it’s better to market to 100 people who care about your product than 10,000 people who don’t have a clue who you are.

Purple Cow (Seth Godin)

Drive down the road in farm country and you’ll see countless cows, and chances are that you wouldn’t think twice about passing thousands of them. But suppose you drove by a purple cow – you’d probably come to a screeching halt, take a ton of pictures and tell everybody you know about the Purple Cow you saw on your trip to the Midwest. Right? That’s what this book is all about – becoming a Purple Cow that your clients can’t help talking about to anyone and everyone they come into contact with.

Tribes (Seth Godin)

This book centers around the idea that lasting  change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. There’s all kinds of tribes that are possible to create around you (or be a part of) and together, we can actually make a difference. Really thought provoking, and a quick read. One of my favorite quotes comes from this book – and one I keep sitting on my desk – “You don’t need a keyboard to lead…you only need the desire to make something happen.“

Love is the Killer App (Tim Sanders)

This book has had a BIG impact on where our business is today. The central concept is quite literally in the title – if we focus on really loving others, putting them first, and giving until it hurts (out of love) we can find more success than by focusing inward. Tim Sanders is not only a really great writer but he’s a fantastic speaker – check out his YouTube channel and his blog (updated quite frequently with some pretty meaningful discussions).

The E Myth, Revisited

E is for Entrepreneurial and this book focuses on the keys to success for any entrepreneur and really centers on the idea of treating any small business just like you would a corporation. As a small business owner, sometimes you have to wear several hats at once, and this book talks through how to determine which hats to wear and when (and why to do so). The most enjoyable exercise in this book is the construction of your corporate organizational chart – we had a lot of fun with it, coming up with creative names for all our positions. For example, Erin is the “Deputy Director in charge of the Blogosphere and Blogosphere Relations” meaning she takes care of our blog and the way we interact through it to our readers.

Free (Chris Anderson)

In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all, and that’s really the underlying concept of this book. I actually didn’t read this book, but instead listened to the audiobook which he released – for free – to anyone and everyone who wanted to grab it. The idea of ‘free’ is something that you should not only understand in order to better understand your clients, but you might also find creative ways to create value for your clients with some “free” deliverables.

The 360 Degree Leader (John C. Maxwell)

This is a great resource if you’re thinking about having employees, interns, or associates in your business as it discusses how to be a leader from wherever you are, and how to encourage those who you lead to be leaders in turn. John Maxwell talks a lot about leadership in his seminars (which we’ve never been to) and in a lot of his books; this is probably the best place to start if you want to start reading through his book list.

Fast Track Photographer (Dane Sanders)

When Dane wrote this book, he did something tremendous for the photography industry – he created an amazing jumping off point for people who are either 1) thinking about a career in photography or 2) stumbled into a photography career and feel lost in the process of taking their business to the next level. Dane has a gift for writing in an easy-to-read, conversational tone that makes it seems like less of a book and more of a helpful conversation from a friend.

How to Win Friends, and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)

This is one of those books that simply must be read by anybody who owns a business that deals with people, or anybody who is part of a team or leads a group of people. It was written back in 1937 and the principles in the book are still current and relevant even today. It centers around the idea that people should be dealt with in such a way that they feel important and appreciated.

Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)

Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite authors – and speakers – and the Tipping Point is his most business-relavent book, especially for photographers, so I’d probably suggest starting with this one, then reading his other work in any order. “The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.“

Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)

Blink is all about making snap judgements, and the decisive glance that looks at something, and knowing – something – in an instant. It’s a fascinating study of the human psyche and how the idea that we can extract a large amount of information about something in an instant, and what that means for us.

Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)

In Outliers, Malcom Gladwell asks why some people succeed and live remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential. Challenging our cherished belief of the “self-made man,” he makes the case that superstars don’t arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent. Instead, “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, “some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky.”