Last Saturday, I decided to start an ecommerce website, selling cigars. Images of my wife and me sitting on the beach came to my mind as I imagined how easy it would be to rake in the dough with an online cigar shop. Turns out, it won’t be that easy. The more I learn, the more I realize just how hard it would be to have a profitable cigar shop without investing $25,000 up front. So as I continue to search for ways around that specific roadblock, I’ve opened my mind to other ideas and I still plan to have an ecommerce site, with or without cigars.

As I began my search for an ecomm solution, I happened across BuyerZone.com, where I entered in the details of my needs and got about 5 responses. Among others, BlueLine LLC stood out as my favorite in terms of customer service, functionality, and customization. The issue was the $8,000 price tag. Having zero experience with online anything, I decided not to dump 8k into a trial run. What I ultimately decided on was a company called Volusion, mostly because I was able to take advantage of their 14 day free trial! What a fantastic thing!

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As entrepreneurs, we all know there is a vital need for a disciplined, self development program if we are to achieve any level of success. Along with audio resources, conferences, conventions, and seminars, we must be constantly reading. With this in mind, I put together a list of what I believe are the books every enterprising entrepreneur should read as they are beginning their ventures.  Notice I said “as they are beginning…” Never let preparing to start keep you from starting! You’ll never know “enough,” so just do it! Some of these you will recognize, but some of them you won’t, and that’s what I’m going for.  Now, on to the 5!

1. Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money–That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!  by Roberty Kiyosaki

Robert Kiyosaki writes for you and to you. This book is a great read.  Ever wonder why someone people just happen to have all the good ideas?  Did you ever think that it’s because they developed the way they looked at the world? Kiyosaki challenged everything I was taught growing up, and it felt good!

2. The Art of Dealing With People by Les Giblin

Now, This may seem a bit elementary, but this 30 some page book has the keys to successful relationships.  Ever wonder why some people are absolutely magnetic? Did you ever think that it’s because they developed their people skills?  This book will force you to examine the way you deal with people on a daily basis and, if you’re up to the task, propell you on to success.

3. The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

This is an older book, but its’ principles still ring true today because the principles of success work whether it is 1957 or 2007. Chapters 2, 12, and 13 deal with what he calls “the failure diseases,” and as a business owner, I would want to avoid those if possible.   There is a great table of contents with about 100 topics covered in the book and where to find them.

4. The Greatest Salesman in The World by Og Mandino

This is the legend of Hafid, a camel boy of two thousand years ago, and his burning desire to improve his lowly position in life, as told to his apprentice Erasmus. Hafid relates the story of how he became known as the Greatest Salesman in the World. His success lies in the wisdom of ten leather scrolls passed down to him from his master, Pathros. Hafid applied their secrets of success to become the Greatest Salesman in the World. You will long remember the timeless words of the ten scrolls in Og’s most popular work and learn to apply them in your life to find great success!

5. How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger

Weather to believe you are a salesman or not, you are. If you are an entrepreneur and business owner, you are a salesman. You are, and will always be, selling yourself. This book talks about the secret behind his enormous success, and it’s not very complicated.  The first 7 pages changed my life.

So there you have it!  These 5 books have the potential to completely Rock the way you view the world.  That’s a good thing! 

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I’ve been toying with the idea that I “need” a new laptop to go along with my new ventures which include an ecommerce website, this blog, and being a reseller of software development and engineering services. Well, I finally convinced myself that I do, in fact, Need an HP dv9500t. It’s sweet. 17″ sceen and all the latest technology. For instance, I can print on my cd’s or dvd’s when I burn them! lots of you will say “…and?” But i’ve just found out about all this new stuff because I haven’t bought a new computer for about 3 1/2 years.

This is the first step of many to get myself out of my 9-5, which is not bad as 9-5’s go. But, as does every entrepreneur, I want so badly to own my time and invest it into something I believe in and love to do. Leonardo Da Vinci once said “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” So I am going out and happening to things!

Now, back to investing.

When you talk to your parents about investing, they talk about 401k’s, etc. When I talk about investing, I’m talking about using time and money in a way that will create more time and money. I would rather spend my time and money to create a business that will pay me long term, rather than socking it away in a 401k that I can’t touch til I’m 59 1/2! Who wants to wait that long? not me, and not my generation. Yeah, we’re the microwave generation, but in many ways, that’s a good thing, if we can harness that energy. Unlike the generations before us, we really have a hard time doing the same thing for 40 hours a week. That will be good for us because it forces us to diversify, not only in the way we make my money, but also the geographic location in which we make it, using the internet.

I think a lot of this generation does not know that they can be entrepreneurs, or they are scared to, so they go get jobs (with a soft “J”), but they still have that underlying need, urge, or desire for more freedom in their life. Some companies are beginning to get that, like Best Buy with their Results Only Work Environment. It’s a cool column about what Best Buy, and some other companies, are doing with their corporate offices.

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