“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” — Joseph Addison

With all of the hype surrounding network marketing, some positive, some negative, some downright unbelievable, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that networking marketing is a profession much like any other.

Success as a network marketer requires passion, hard work, and knowledge.  Here are my Top Five, Must-Read Books for the network marketer and small business owner. (You’ll notice that only the first book in this list applies directly to network marketing.)

Your First Year in Network Marketing

Network marketing is one of the most fun and rewarding businesses in the world . . .

According to Amazon, I’ve owned Your First Year in Network Marketing since June of 2005.  It’s been an invaluable resource as a reference and a training tool, both for myself and the people on my team.  If you only purchase one book on network marketing, this is the one to buy.

Think & Grow Rich

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure. –Napoleon Hill

Think & Grow Rich was first published in 1937, the result of more than 20 years of research into what makes hugely wealthy people so successful.  When I first heard about Think & Grow Rich, I was skeptical it would contain anything other than pop-psychology drivel aimed at the get rich quick market.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.

There are many avenues to great wealth, and the wildly successful all have their own stories, but there’s not a single one of them that will tell you they’ve achieved their success without a definite purpose, big goals, and a burning desire to be successful.  If you’d like to follow in their footsteps, I would recommend studying this book.

As A Man Thinketh

A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. –James Allen

As A Man Thinketh is the one book on this list that I would recommend to anyone and everyone, regardless of their aspirations for success in small business.  I have learned more from this little book about the power of thought and its impact on my life than any other book I have read.  If you study this short essay closely, you’ll find that it’s source material for many of the most popular positive thinking books that follow, including Think & Grow Rich and the recent, wildly popular book and movie The Secret.  While I’ve enjoyed reading other books on this same topic, I’ve not found a single book I value more highly.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. –Dale Carnegie

How to Win Friends and Influence People is another book that I avoided for many years, assuming that it would teach me how to manipulate people into liking me just long enough for me to profit financially from the relationship.  Boy was I wrong! Reading this book has been influential in my development as a person, as a friend, and as a successful marketer.

One of the most important lessons to learn in network marketing is that people aren’t interested in buying into your business, they’re interested in buying into you! Practical application of the principles learned in this book will help you become the kind of person that people want to invest in.

Lower Your Taxes Big Time

Tax evasion is illegal.  Tax avoidance is the American way of life. –Claiborne Ferguson

One of the very best reasons to start a small business, any small business, is the ability to save on your taxes every year.  One of the biggest hurdles to making sure you’re reaping all of the tax benefits that you’re due are the incredibly difficult to understand tax rules and regulations.  Lower Your Taxes Big Time breaks down the confusing tax code into small, easy to understand sections that make doing your taxes at the end of the year much easier and highly profitable.  I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of these books over the years (they’re updated each year), and I’d recommend them highly to any small business owner who’s interested in learning more about the tax advantages of owning their own business.

What books would you add to your Top 5 List?

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