Entrepreneurs are always looking for the next book, course, planner, or app to make life easier, be more efficient, or reach some new level of consciousness or productivity. I can’t blame them. If I am being honest, I am not a huge fan of reading. I am a much bigger fan of DOING and SELF EXPERIMENTATION.

But the two can be married. Thus, today I am sharing books that only change your life if you implement what they are saying. And do not be mistaken. That is WHY I am sharing them – so that you take what they present and see how you can actively apply it to your life and business. Reading these in the absence of action does LITERALLY nothing for you.

So, without further ado, these are currently my top five favorite books for entrepreneurs.

Essentialism

is the singular book that I encourage all my FitsPROs to read. It’s that good. This book is a truly a brain functioning change – like a lifestyle change. It will challenge how you think about “priorities,” how many priorities you can have at once, and really embracing the idea of seasons in life and business. One of the biggest issues entrepreneurs have is an ever-growing to do list, and spinning their wheels just to stay in the same spot – to be endlessly busy but not productive. You feel seen? You’re not alone. Essentialism, if applied, can change that sensation for you and break that cycle. You’ll establish what is TRULY essential at this time, and what is NOT. That doesn’t make the “not” a bad thing. It just means you get to consciously say that’s going on the back burner FOR NOW.

Atomic Habits

was simple affirmation of most things I was already doing. It gave things a name. I had been “habit stacking” and making things more difficult to access or easier to access for nearly a decade. But Atomic Habits packaged all those tactics and habits (lol) up into an easy to digest and easy to apply book. Out of all the books here, Atomic Habits is easily the simplest to put into action. There are things you can implement almost immediately into your life to be more productive WHERE you want to be more productive. Highly recommend for literally any human.

4 Hour Work Week

was the book that solidified my decision to travel the world full time. I read this book in 2017 on our three week trial trip to Spain. Funny enough it was our first international trip as a couple and yet we were planning to travel the world for a year (in nine months from then). While I do think the title and premise of this entire book is slightly misleading…I clearly put it on my top five list. So what gives?

The Four Hour Work Week is a must, non-negotiable, read for online coaches and entrepreneurs. I will not be convinced otherwise. Most people will go from a 9-5 or some kind of trading-time-for-money style of work to building their online business. The whole point of being online is to do MORE in less time – to reach more people with less energy. More from less. More with less. Yet I’d argue most people just end up working overtime as an employee for themselves. This book helps to prevent that from happening through many, many tactical tips (take what makes sense for you, leave the rest). Or helps you climb out of the hole you’ve built for yourself.

It challenges the 9-5 mindset and completely turns western work approaches on their heads. Very freedom focused vibes.

The Big Leap

is the book I read in Santiago Chile, our first stay in world travels – it lead me to create my mantra, and completely rethink my “zone of genius” in my business. It also lead to me recreating my signature weight lifting program, Built By Annie. It’s not the most “fun” read in my opinion but it’s challenging to the entrepreneur. It’s self refining if you’re willing to do the work. It will bring up limiting beliefs you have and give you opportunity to face them. I think it’s a great read for someone who is feeling a lot of tension in their biz, lacking clarity, or is preparing for pivot.

Profit First

made me feel able and in control of biz finances. Start a business they said. It will be fun they said. Until all of us coaches whose knowledge base is health and fitness have to now set up bank accounts, and fill out legal paperwork, and attempt to be an accountant. No one knows what they are doing when starting out. No one. Shoot, plenty of people five or ten years in still don’t know what they are doing. In my opinion, this book makes a lot of sense for online health and fitness coaches or entrepreneurs who are self managing and also have variable income.

The book does not replace having a CPA bookkeeper, but will help you to feel informed and make empowered decisions with your biz.

Drop your fav book below!

P.S. If you haven’t taken my free workshop: 3 steps to build a profitable online health and fitness business, get to it. Good day and Godspeed. Or, stick around for more free content.

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